
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, August 6, 1993                   TAG: 9308060172
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

HOUSE GIVES CLINTON WIN ON TAX PLAN

House Democrats pushed President Clinton's budget past a unified wall of Republicans on Thursday night, setting up a climactic Senate showdown with a 218-216 vote on the administration's package of tax increases and spending cuts.

Clinton's victory came after a suspenseful roll call in which the measure stalled for several minutes just shy of a majority.

At the White House, Clinton swiftly hailed the vote, saying "the margin was close, but the mandate is clear." He pledged additional steps to reduce the deficit - a gesture to conservative Democrats who gave grudging support in the House, and to uncommitted Democratic Sen. Bob Kerrey, holder of the decisive vote in the Senate.

At stake was a controversial budget that would increase taxes on the rich and increase the tax on gasoline by more than four cents a gallon. Opponents sought fewer taxes and less spending, and Republicans mocked Democrats who provided the winning margin, taunting "goodbye" in a forecast of 1994 voter disapproval.

The roll call was sharply partisan, and it was wavering Democrats who made the roll call as tense as it was.

Independent Bernard Sanders of Vermont joined 217 Democrats in voting for the bill. Forty-one Democrats and all 175 Republicans voted "no."

In the Virginia delegation, all Democrats voted in favor except Rep. Owen Pickett, D-Virginia Beach.

The Senate didn't wait for a new day, starting debate almost immediately before adjourning around midnight. Vice President Al Gore said the outcome might be a tie - which he would break in favor of the plan.

Despite weeks of compromise and pressure, the margin was slimmer than the 219-213 cushion Democrats had when they pushed an earlier version of the bill through the House.

by CNB