Legislation United States

Through the squalls and storms of the past few months, no one has been more doggedly upbeat about President Clinton's ambitious plan for national health care reform than senior adviser Ira Magaziner and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. Magaziner, chief architect of Clinton's health care plan, took great delight in calling attention to his office bookshelves.

President Bush urged the Senate on Saturday to move swiftly to approve legislation that would expand his authority to negotiate international trade agreements. In his weekly radio address, Bush said the trade promotion authority "would give me the flexibility to negotiate with other countries to open their markets and get the best deals for American producers and workers." The president also signaled support in principle for providing help for U.S.

By all indications, it looked like it was going to be a Wednesday afternoon session of vacation slides from hell. There we were, holed up on a lovely spring day in the Capitol Hill office of Rep. Bob Filner, San Diego Democrat, while he described snapshots of his recent trip to the Philippines. Everybody got their own set. "Bob and Jane Filner enjoy breakfast with the Sons and Daughters of World War II veterans. . . .

At a time when Congress is stalemated on a spate of issues, one measure is an eye-catching exception: a major rewrite of federal farm policy. While most other major legislation seems doomed to election-year oblivion, congressional negotiators put the finishing touches Friday on a bill that would increase agriculture subsidies a staggering 70% over the next decade.

President Clinton said Tuesday that the budget he will send Congress on Feb. 7 will propose paying off the entire $3.6-trillion national debt by 2013--two years earlier than had been expected even a few months ago. At a news conference, the president attributed the opportunity for a speedup to an economy that is even stronger than had been forecast, resulting in higher tax revenue and lower expenses, and to his own austere budget policies.

Three former presidents endorsed legislation Wednesday to ban the future manufacture, sale and possession of combat-style assault weapons as a closely divided House neared a showdown today on the hotly controversial issue. Gerald R. Ford, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan sent a letter to all House members expressing their support for the measure, effectively joining President Clinton in urging approval of the ban.

Howard and Connie Clery were delighted when their only daughter, Jeanne, told them of her decision to enroll at Lehigh, a small private co-educational university in Bethlehem, Pa., little more than an hour from home. Had she chosen to follow in the footsteps of her two brothers, Jeanne might have gone off to New Orleans, to Tulane, which was so far away. Yes, the Clerys agreed, Lehigh was perfect. "The minute she saw Lehigh she fell in love with it," Connie Clery remembers.

It took some searching, but Richard Swain found the coat he was looking for last month at a store in Greenbelt, Md. The black, fur-trimmed parka resembled others on the racks, but the tag was unsettling. It said the trim was "Mongolia Dog Fur." The find was a coup for Swain, chief investigator for the Humane Society of the United States, which is wrapping up an 18-month undercover probe into what it says is an extensive worldwide trade in the pelts of domesticated dogs.

A painfully divided House of Representatives approved the North American Free Trade Agreement by an unexpectedly large margin Wednesday night, ending a hard-fought battle that grew into a referendum on the fundamental changes sweeping the American economy. The vote was 234 to 200, 16 more than the 218 needed for passage. The Senate is expected to act on the measure within days. Passage there is not in doubt.

Senate Democrats dealt a severe blow to the Republican legislative agenda Thursday, killing the heart of the GOP's campaign platform--a constitutional amendment that mandates a balanced budget in seven years. Conceding a significant loss of momentum, grim-faced Republicans immediately set out to exact political revenge, blaming President Clinton and targeting six Democrats who voted against the proposal even though they had backed a virtually identical measure only a year and a day earlier.

A campaign by airline pilots to carry guns in cockpits has gained the support of two key House Republicans despite the opposition of Bush administration officials. House aviation subcommittee chairman John L. Mica of Florida and House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee chairman Don Young of Alaska are scheduled to introduce legislation Tuesday to allow trained pilots to carry guns.

The Senate approved a bill Thursday that would revamp the nation's energy policy, paving the way for talks with the House on one of President Bush's domestic priorities. The bill is a mix of relatively modest steps geared more toward promoting conservation and the use of alternative power sources. The House bill, taking its cue from Bush, is tilted more toward increasing production.

Breaking a stubborn impasse, House and Senate negotiators reached agreement Thursday on the outlines of a farm bill that would vastly increase federal spending on crop subsidies and conservation programs. The breakthrough came a day after President Bush traveled to South Dakota and called on Congress to reach a quick compromise on the legislation, which passed the House and Senate in significantly different forms.

The House is poised this week to approve legislation that would ease donation-reporting rules for a broad class of political groups, opening a new front in the campaign finance debate. Critics say the measure, coming just weeks after the enactment of a landmark law to limit donations to national political parties, could encourage certain groups to receive huge contributions from wealthy donors while escaping effective scrutiny.

Five years ago, a conservative analyst named David M. Mason penned a critique of the campaign reform movement titled "Why Congress Can't Ban Soft Money." Earlier this year, as lawmakers sought to prove him wrong, he attacked elements of their reform bill as "unworkable or unenforceable."

As taxpayers approach their annual day of reckoning, House Republicans plan to act on two bills in the next two weeks that would bolster taxpayer rights and make permanent last year's major tax cuts. The votes, on either side of April 15, will enable the GOP to spotlight its stance on taxes in an election year when many voters are worried about a still-fragile economy. Both bills are favored to win approval in the Republican-led House, though the vote on tax cuts could be close.

Crawling up the Capitol steps to dramatize the barriers confronting them, scores of disabled persons rallied Monday to protest delays in congressional action on a Senate-passed bill to expand their access to jobs, transportation and public services. The legislation, endorsed by President Bush, has broad bipartisan backing but has been moving at glacial speed through four House committees since it was approved overwhelmingly by the Senate last September.

On the picket line outside Caterpillar's sprawling tractor plant, John McCoy uses his head to display his disdain for his employer of 29 years: He wears a John Deere cap. Just up the street, a union billboard painted in Caterpillar's bold yellow colors announces: "You are entering a war zone. Caterpillar vs. its UAW employees." Such are the symbols of the nation's longest ongoing labor confrontation.

While Democrats launched a final push Monday for legislation to limit the influence of big-money donors, party officials said one contributor has given several million dollars this year to help build a national Democratic headquarters. The gift, when confirmed in federal disclosure reports due to become public next month, will apparently be the largest of the past decade to either of the major national parties.

Six months after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks postponed a brewing debate on immigration reform, the House today is expected to approve a measure backed by President Bush to help certain immigrants stay in the United States while they seek legal residency. The House action comes after Bush prodded Republican leaders to pass the measure before he makes a four-day swing next week through Mexico, Peru and El Salvador. The measure has strong bipartisan support in the Senate.