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| CONGRESSIONAL CONTESTS | |
 October 27, 2000  |
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After this background report, Thomas Mann of the Brookings Institution and Stuart Rothenberg of the Rothenberg Political Report discuss the congressional races.
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KWAME
HOLMAN: President Clinton took to the Rose Garden this afternoon to applaud
Republicans in Congress for passing several spending bills he liked enough
to sign into law. He then chided them for putting forth one spending bill
and a tax plan he doesn't like and promises to veto.
KWAME HOLMAN: But disagreement over a ten-year, $240 billion tax relief package is just one item forcing Congress to work long past its planned adjournment, and to fund government agencies through a series of week-to-week spending resolutions. In the Senate today, Majority Leader Trent Lott warned his colleagues President Clinton now will sign so-called continuing resolutions only up to 24 hours. That will require members to stay through the weekend to pass them in order to keep several agencies open. SEN. TRENT LOTT: At this time, in view of the need of continuing resolutions, unless some different agreement can be worked out, we would be expected to have votes on Saturday and on Sunday on continuing resolutions. KWAME HOLMAN: Of 13 spending bills required to be enacted before the fiscal year began October 1st, Congress and the White House have agreed on all but two. President Clinton recognized that success. |
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| Progress over partisanship | |||||||||||
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PRESIDENT CLINTON: There's no great secret to getting things done around here. When we put progress over partisanship, we get results. When we work together, we get results.
PRESIDENT CLINTON: I saw the... an article in the press today that estimated that this spending in this Congress would reduce the projected surplus by $900 billion. Let me just say, I don't... it will reduce the projected surplus, but I think it's by more like half that. Because they're capital projects, they're not repeating. So the assumption that this erodes almost half the surplus is based on the fact that you would have this rate of increase every year to sustain that. And that does not have to be the case because a lot of these projects are... you know, they got the funding and they'll do the project and they don't have to repeat it next year. KWAME HOLMAN: Meanwhile, even as negotiations over the final spending items continued, the Senate moved toward joining the House in passing the Republican tax package so vehemently opposed by President Clinton. That may lead to a full-scale veto confrontation next week. |
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PRESIDENT
CLINTON: Instead of meeting us on common ground, instead of working
with the White House or congressional Democrats, the Republican leadership
closed its doors to compromise -- literally closed the doors to compromise.
They crafted their own partisan tax package and passed it last night
on a party line vote. 
KWAME
HOLMAN: But those results came at a price. The election-year spending
bills contain far more money than many members are comfortable with.
One press report states the spending eventually could consume up to
half the expected budget surplus over the next decade.