The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, October 04, 2000, Page 4, Image 4
'(Che (gamecock
Veto threat looms as Congress,
Clinton agree on new proposals
by Alan Fr am(
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The White House
and Republican leaders are allied behinc
an $18.8 billion Interior Departmeni
measure that would create a new lane
conservation program, even as a vetc
fight looms over a separate spending bill,
The House planned to vote Tuesday
on the Interior measure, which would
create a six-year, $12 billion program
for purchasing new park lands, main
taining existing parks, beach and wet
lands protection, urban parks and other
initiatives. It would start at $ 1.6 billion
for fiscal 2001 — more than double the
amount for 2000 — and escalate annu
ally, with any unspent money carrying
over into the following year.
Clinton administration and con
gressional bargainers reached agreement
on a $58 billion transportation bill for
2001 that would penalize states that don’t
enact a 0.08 percent blood-alcohol lev
el as the standard for drunken driving.
If any of the 32 states that have a
more lenient 0.10 percent level don’t
adopt the stricter standard, they would
lose up to 8 percent of their federal high
way aid by 2007. Advocates say the low
er standard will save hundreds of lives
annually, while opponents including the
restaurant and liquor industries say it
would penalize social drinkers.
Continuing a pattern in which spend
ing bills’ price tags are rising, the com
promise transportation measure is
$7.3 billion higher than 2000 spending,
$3.3 billion more than President Clin
ton requested and about $3 billion high
er than earlier versions approved by the
House and Senate.
Though the two sides were aligned
on the Interior and transportation bills,
they were racing toward a veto clash on
another measure.
By a 57-37 vote, the Senate gave fi
nal approval Monday to a $23.6 bil
lion energy and water package loaded
with hundreds of projects for every cor
ner of the country.
The measure passed the House over
whelmingly last week. But the bill would
block the Clinton administration from
letting the Missouri River return to a
seasonal, ebb-and-flow of its water lev
els, and cut Clinton proposals for restora
tion of Florida’s Everglades, the Cali
fornia Bay delta and salmon populations
in the Northwest.
Calling it “deeply flawed” and an
ti-environmental, Clinton said in a writ
ten statement, “Accordingly, I will ve
to this bill when it reaches my desk.”
The vote on final passage fell 10
votes short of the 67 that would be need
ed to overturn Clinton’s promised veto
if all 100 senators voted. Republicans
voted 51 -1 for the measure—with on
ly Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., in op
position — while Democrats lined up
behind Clinton by 36-6.
The administration plan for the Mis
souri River is aimed at helping endan
gered wildlife on the river, and also would
benefit upstream recreation interests.
The plan is widely unpopular among
lawmakers from both parties in Mis
souri, where opponents say flooding
could result and that farmers and the
baige industry would be harmed. Many
Republicans have welcomed the veto
battle as one that could throw the bat
tleground state to GOP presidential can
didate Geoige W. Bush.
“Iguarantee this veto will have po
litical ramifications,” said Sen. Kit Bond,
R-Mo., the chief foe of the proposal.
Among the Missouri Democratic
foes are Gov. Mel Carnahan, who is run
ning for Senate, and House Minority
Leader Dick Gephardt.
So far, only two of the 13 spending
bills for fiscal 2001 have become law.
The new fiscal year began on Sunday,
and most federal agencies have been op
erating on a stopgap measure keeping
them financed through Friday.
With both sides conceding that bud
get negotiations need more time, con
gressional leaders planned to push a sec
ond temporary extension through the
House on Tuesday.
That bill would keep agencies open
through Oct. 14. In a sign of internal
GOP strains, Senate Majority Leader
Trent Lott, R-Miss., said remaining
spending bills could be finished by then
if “the purists are willing to accept well
enough and be done with it.”
The comment seemed to be a swipe
at some conservatives demanding tougher
budget discipline.
One of them — McCain — took to
the Senate floor to chide his col
leagues for writing spending measures
he said were too costly and loaded with
pork-barrel spending for home districts.
His office released a $1.2 billion, 20
page list of home-district dredging, shore
line restoration, eneigy research and oth
er projects in the eneigy-water measure.
«
Israel
from page 3
a leadership summit on Thursday. It
was not clear whether Arafat planned
to attend.
Palestinians said an international in
quiry into Israel’s actions would be a con
dition of reviving the peace talks.
“Wfe think that the Israeli crimes com
mitted against our people attacked the
heart of the peace process, and the tar
get of it was the American effort,” said
Nabil Abourdeneh, a top aide to Arafat.
Barak’s office said he “totally rejected
the call for an international investigation
into the incidents in the territories.”
The Israeli army said a 12-year-old
boy killed at Netzarim on Saturday was
apparently hit by Israeli gunfire. The death,
caught on camera, had shocked viewers
around the world. Israel’s Deputy Chief
of Staff Maj. Gea Moshe Yaalon expressed
“deep sorrow” and said a sniper had ap
parently mistaken the child for a gunman.
Israeli and Palestinian commanders
had reached an understanding before
dawn Tuesday that the Palestinians
would try to contain violence and Is
raeli troops would pull back from
points of friction. However, the agree
ment quickly unraveled.
Israel’s deputy chief of staff, Maj.
Gen. Moshe Yaalon, said the worst is
ahead. “Our estimate is that the climax
of this thing lies before us,” he said.
Sharon, notorious among Palestini
ans for launching the bloody war
against Arafat’s forces in Lebanon in 1982,
said he bore no responsibility.
“The one who is responsible for that
is only one man, and that is Arafat,” he
told CNN.
During the five days of clashes, Pales
tinian gunmen had rushed Israeli outposts
bordering Palestinian-controlled areas.
Israeli tanks trained guns on luxury apart
ments in Ramallah, and Israeli helicopter
gunships swooped over civilian areas.
The sides hoped the Paris meetings
would not only end the fighting, but re
vive the talks.
“The meeting in Paris on Wednes
day is a step in the direction of the re
newal of the negotiations and not just the
end of violence here,” Acting Foreign
Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami told Israel ra
dio.
While his officers negotiated an end
to the fighting, Barak turned his atten
tions to what Israelis clearly saw as an
equally ominous development: the spread
of the violence among Israeli Arabs.
The riots in Israeli Arab towns
were among the worst in the 52 years
of the state’s existence.
At least nine Israeli Arabs have died
Solidarity with the Palestinians sparked
the protests, but the fuel was the years of
discrimination, poverty and unemploy
ment endured by Israel’s Arab minority
— one-sixth of Israel’s 6 million people.
Barak set up a special Cabinet com
mittee to address Arab needs, and was
meeting with Arab mayors. He also
planned a tour of Arab communities in
the north.
“I am much more worried by the in
ternal issue, the situation with the Arab
Israelis,” Ben-Ami said He regarded the
Arab riots as a “real appeal regarding the
priorities in this country.”
E-mail
from page 3
mittee chaired by Rep. Dan Burton, R
Ind., began looking into the missing e
mail early this year after disclosure in a
court case that White House computer
experts knew in 1998 that much e-mail
was not being properly archived.
Three White House contract em
ployees said they were threatened and
told to keep quiet about the problem by
supervisors, who denied making any
threats.
“Contract employees were threat
ened by White House staff” and “this
helped the White House conceal the prob
lem for almost two years after it was dis
covered,” the GOP report concluded.
The Democratic response states that
the evidence regarding threats is incon
clusive and contradictory and that “there
is no evidence that Wliite House officials
had any knowledge of — or participated
in — any threats.”
Presidential aides say there was a “dis
connect,” with White House lawyers fail
ing to understand that a computer “glitch”
was actually a huge problem that meant
much e-mail traffic wasn’t being reviewed
for investigations ranging from the Mon
ica Lewinsky scandal to Whitewater and
the campaign fund-raising controversy.
The Republican committee draft dis
putes White House officials’ denials.
“Personnel in the Clinton White
House knew that the e-mail problems
necessarily meant that there had been in
complete document production” and “se
nior personnel did nothing to correct the
problem until it was independently dis
covered,” the GOP report states.
It adds that “the gravity of the White
House obstruction became much clear
er” a week ago when the White House
released reconstructed e-mails on Vice
President A1 Gore and the campaign fund
raising controversy.
The e-mails showed that Gore’s staff
referred to a now-infamous event Gore
attended at a Buddhist temple as a fund
raiser. The staff also referred to White
House coffees — some of which were
hosted by Gore — as fund-raisers. Gore
has said he does not regard the temple
event and the coffees as fund-raisers.
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