Defense offsets on way out of spending bill

Although no final decision was confirmed, conferees on the supplemental appropriations measure Wednesday appeared ready to dump a House plan to offset defense spending and some House conservatives--who had been balking - said they were ready to accept the compromise.

"All of the defense appropriation is not offset," Senate Appropriations Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, flatly declared during today's meeting of the conference committee.

However, House Appropriations Chairman Bob Livingston, R-La., said no final decision had been announced.

Nonetheless, sources again said they expect the conferees to offset non-defense disaster relief, but to refuse to offset defense spending. One source indicated if that occurs, he expects cuts to the Clinton administration's national service initiative and bilingual education to be dropped.

Some conservative House Republicans, who had said the entire bill needed to be offset, said they could live with the bill. "We got three out of four things we wanted ... and I would rather put it in the president's port and let him decide whether to veto it," said Rep. Tom Coburn, R-Okla.

Rep. David McIntosh, R-Ind., chairman of the Conservative Action Team, said his group will meet later today to discuss the issue, but added he personally is pleased.

Conservatives said they believe they won several victories in the bill, including the decision to insist disaster relief spending be offset and that the International Monetary Fund supplemental spending be dropped from the bill.

House Appropriations ranking member David Obey, D-Wis., questioned why disaster relief funding for the Red Cross was included in the defense portion of the bill and not offset with cuts, while other disaster relief funding was outside the defense portion and offset with domestic cuts.

Meanwhile, conferees on the supplemental continued to slog through a variety of issues, with several major differences remaining to be resolved. Senate conferees today tried to add five water projects to the bill, contending that dams and levies had been damaged since the House passed its bill--but House conferees objected. In addition, Senate conferees pushed to add provisions dealing with oil royalties and the District of Columbia police chief.

Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., Wednesday spoke to the House Republican Conference on the emergency supplemental bill, stressing "the importance of getting the bill done and passed through the House and Senate by Thursday night."

Although he declined to issue a veto threat, White House Press Secretary Michael McCurry Wednesday said administration officials continue to harbor "a lot of concerns about the way the supplemental is developing."

Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., said he suspects President Clinton may veto the supplemental appropriations conference report. Daschle also criticized GOP leaders for failing to consider the legislation with the "urgency it deserves."