The debate over campaign finance reform should come to a head in the Senate this week, with votes, including competing cloture motions on the bill and on an amendment Democrats have dubbed a "poison pill" set to begin Tuesday afternoon.
Although the schedule now calls for a cloture vote on Senate Majority Leader Lott's amendment to the reform bill crafted by Commerce Chairman McCain and Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., a McCain aide said Lott and McCain are likely to hammer out a unanimous consent agreement today to first allow supporters of McCain-Feingold to offer a motion to table the Lott amendment.
Minority Leader Daschle said Friday, "I think we have the votes sufficient to table the Lott amendment," with all 45 Democrats and McCain expected to vote to table and Vice President Gore ready to cast the deciding vote if four Republicans join them. "Sufficient Republicans have indicated this is a matter they are concerned about. ... [They] have given us the indication they would support" a motion to table.
If such a motion failed and the Lott language, which would require unions and corporations to obtain the prior consent of employees or shareholders before using their money to fund political activity, were added to McCain-Feingold, Democrats could be forced to filibuster legislation they all support, and let it die.
This season's prominent campaign reform plan will be joined on the agenda by renewed efforts in the House and Senate to dig into alleged misdeeds during the 1996 elections. The House Government Reform Committee will finally get to roll up its sleeves and go to work on the public phase of its campaign finance investigation Wednesday, when committee members will deliver their opening statements.
On Thursday, Manlin Foung, sister of Yah Lin (Charlie) Trie, Joseph Landon, a Trie family friend, and David Wang, an associate of John Huang, will appear armed with recent grants of immunity to discuss alleged conduit payments to the Democratic National Committee.
Sparks are certain to fly Tuesday when fiery former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Harold Ickes appears before the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee.
Republicans plan to grill Ickes on a variety of matters related to their probe, from presidential and vice presidential fundraising phone calls to John Huang, because, a committee aide said, Ickes "had his fingers in everything."
After that, the committee may turn its attention to the Teamsters union and the possible movement of funds, in either direction, between the labor group and the DNC.
The House Education and the Workforce Committee enters the fray over the use of union dues for political purposes Wednesday when it marks up legislation requiring unions to get advance permission from members to use their dues for political purposes.
The panel's Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee may meet Tuesday to discuss issuing subpoenas to persons with knowledge of the Teamsters election in order to call them before hearings scheduled for next week.
McCain, meanwhile, tonight will begin to make good on his pledge to keep the reform issue alive, speaking about campaign finance reform during an ARCO forum at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School in Cambridge, Mass.
Trade will also be a prime topic on Capitol Hill this week.
The House Ways and Means Committee gets down to the business of marking up Chairman Archer's fast track trade proposal Wednesday morning. The measure is expected to resemble the bill approved by the Senate Finance Committee last week.
Appropriations Action
Now facing an Oct. 23 deadline, when a stopgap spending measure will expire, appropriators will press this week to finish as many conference reports as possible on the House and Senate floor and in committee.
Although the current continuing resolution lasts until then, the House has a mere seven legislative days with votes until the CR runs out.
The Agriculture conference agreement has been completed and the report could be taken up this week.
The Commerce-Justice-State conference committee will begin meeting this week, facing the difficult question of census sampling.
House Republicans are insisting that sampling be prohibited and the Clinton administration has threatened a veto if a prohibition is included in the final agreement.
The House and Senate are expected to consider the District of Columbia funding bill this week.
The D.C. bill is the only spending measure that has not passed either chamber and appropriators face a veto threat from the administration if the bill provides funds for parents to send their children to private schools.
The Interior conference agreement is expected to be filed in the House today and could be taken up sometime this week.
Conferees on the Labor-HHS bill are expected to meet this week and face the difficult issues of education testing and education block grants. Conferees also are expected to meet on the Transportation funding bill.
The VA-HUD bill could be on the floor this week.
Congress has sent the Energy and Water, Legislative Branch and Defense appropriations conference agreements to the White House and has passed the Treasury-Postal agreement.
The president has signed the Military Construction funding bill.
Meanwhile, the Clinton administration is expected to continue to review the conference reports for possible line item vetoes.
Senate Commerce Chairman McCain has recommended several projects in each of the bills as possible targets.
At week's end, Congress is slated to take a one-week Columbus Day recess.
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