WASHINGTON — President Clinton, in a major concession to Senate Republicans who have blocked passage of his $16.3-billion economic stimulus package, offered to eliminate $4 billion in "emergency" spending proposals that his opponents charge are laden with political pork.
Yet in a direct rebuke, the President's compromise was quickly rejected by Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.). Thus, while the standoff continues, it appeared Friday that in his first major test of wills with the Republican opposition, Clinton had blinked first.
"I make this recommendation reluctantly and regret the unwillingness of the minority to let the Senate act on the original legislation," Clinton wrote in a letter to congressional leaders. "But our mandate is to achieve change and to move our country forward and to end business as usual in Washington."
In his response, Dole said: "Trimming a huge pork bill is no gift to the beleaguered taxpayers and neither is raising the deficit. No wonder even Democrats are running away from the package," he said, referring to several Democratic senators whose support is now in doubt.
The dispute involves "a fundamental difference between Republicans and most Democrats, and it is a principle we won't compromise," he said.
Clinton said he is willing to accept a 25% reduction in the stimulus bill, trimming it to $12 billion but retaining key spending provisions. Those include programs to create summer jobs, an extension of jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed and funding for highway construction, childhood immunization, AIDS prevention, waste-water treatment, meat inspection and small business loans.
In an apparent effort to make the package more attractive to conservatives, Clinton also proposed to add $200 million for grants to local governments to hire police.
The President offered to impose 44% across-the-board cuts on the rest of the proposals, including such programs as community development block grants for big cities, Pell grants for student aid, funding for mass transit and for new money for upgrading Amtrak rail transportation.
The urban block grants have been the focus of the most controversy in the Senate. Republicans have charged that the grants are little more than pork for key Democratic constituency groups.
