Treasury-Postal Bill Stalls

Although Republican leaders continued to press today to pass FY97 funding measures, the Senate made little progress in moving the Treasury-Postal appropriations measure -- causing Majority Leader Lott to threaten to pull the bill and other Republicans to accuse Democrats of stalling.

Lott attempted to gain a unanimous consent agreement to have all amendments filed by noon -- a request to which the Democrats objected. He finally obtained a request to have all amendments filed by 2 p.m. "I'm not asking much here," Lott said on the Senate floor shortly after noon. "I'm just asking the Senate to move forward."

Lott said this morning that Democrats had 35 amendments left on the Treasury- Postal bill, adding, "I continue to wonder what is their game plan here." He said he might be forced to pull the bill to go on to other business, contending that "whether we'll be able to come back to it is not clear."

Other Republicans also expressed frustration over the progress of the funding measures. "It's clear to everybody that there are elements in the Democratic Party and the White House who want to play stall ball to force us into a shutdown mode so we'll cave to their multi-billion spending demands," a key House GOP aide said. He said Republicans remain determined not to "cave" and also not to allow another government shutdown.

Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., denied the accusation, saying Democrats have good amendments they want to offer on spending bills. "We're not trying to make any efforts to stall," Daschle said.

Despite the lack of progress, Lott said he is trying to be optimistic about passing the appropriations bills, but noted that "we are getting to the ones that are more controversial." He said he hopes GOP leaders can meet with White House Chief of Staff Panetta early next week to begin serious negotiations on remaining appropriations issues. "We want to ascertain where their real needs are," he said.

Two of the 13 appropriations bills have been signed by President Clinton and two more have been cleared for his signature. The Energy and Water bill will be the fifth bill to clear Congress once it is approved by the Senate. Four more bills are in conference -- counting the recently agreed upon Transportation measure -- and the other four await Senate approval.