ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, January 5, 1996 TAG: 9601050063
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: From The New York Times and The Associated Press
House Republican leaders, weary of taking the blame for the continuing government shutdown, on Thursday abandoned their strategy of using closed government offices as a lever to force President Clinton to agree to a seven-year balanced budget.
But they failed Thursday night to immediately sell the GOP rank-and-file on a plan to send all 280,000 furloughed government workers back to their jobs with pay until at least March 15.
Party sources said the proposal urged by Speaker Newt Gingrich and co-leaders in the House Republican hierarchy got only mixed reviews at a stormy two-hour closed-door evening faceoff in a House caucus room.
``It's like herding cats, and everybody has their own idea about how to save Western civilization,'' Rep. Joe Scarborough, R-Fla., said of the meeting.
``There is no resolution,'' Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, a member of the House GOP leadership, told reporters at its conclusion.
Rep. David McIntosh of Indiana said flatly, ``We will not reopen the government.''
Boehner said there were ``a lot of options put on the table'' and Republican leaders would take ``a couple of more days'' to decide what to do.
He described the budget impasse with President Clinton as at a ``crossroads.''
The GOP leaders' plan also would restore full pay to another 480,000 workers - people who have been working without salary since the partial shutdown began Dec. 16. It would cover the workers until March 15. In addition, money would be provided for a few of the programs in the nine Cabinet departments and dozens of other agencies whose spending bills have not been completed.
Funds would be provided to reopen national parks and museums; restore benefits for many veterans; provide foster homes, adoption care and other services for poor children; and resume the Meals on Wheels program that provides dinners for thousands of needy senior citizens.
There would be no funds, however, for many Commerce Department programs favored by Clinton.
The GOP leaders' decision to advance the proposal indicated they were willing to abandon their insistence that legislation ending the impasse be tied to an agreement with Clinton on a new seven-year balanced-budget plan.
House Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan., a critic of the GOP linkage strategy, said Clinton was ``winning the PR or political perception battle.'' While Republicans were justified in vigorously pursuing their budget and tax-cut policies, Roberts said, ``To use a government shutdown as a political crowbar to make your point is very self-defeating.''
Congressional leaders and White House officials predicted that if the plan emerged intact from the House it would be quickly approved by the Senate and signed by the president.
New polls show the GOP is taking more blame from the public than is Clinton for the stalemate, but that margin was narrowing.
A new CBS News poll shows 44 percent of Americans blame Republicans, compared with 33 percent who hold the president responsible. Another poll by ABC News shows that while Clinton's approval rating has dipped slightly, disapproval of Republicans has risen from 71 percent to 74 percent since November.
The leaders' view was that the partial government shutdown had distracted attention from their prime issue, the balanced budget. ``Somewhere along the way, we have gotten off message,'' Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas, the majority leader, said Thursday night.
Many government offices are shut because Congress has not passed - or the president has vetoed - legislation to pay for their operation this year. Until now, House Republicans have refused to consider stopgap legislation to keep things running, fearing that retreat would let President Clinton off the hook on the balanced budget issue.
If steps can be taken to reopen the government and pay workers, Republican leaders could send their members home for two weeks and begin an election campaign at all levels, stressing the necessity of balancing the budget. They would not abandon negotiations with Clinton, but they were not depending on them to succeed.
Earlier, the Republicans had put off Thursday's scheduled negotiations at the White House, but said they wanted to meet today. Thursday night, Dole told the Senate, ``By early next week we should have an agreement.'' After a pause, he continued, ``or disagreement.''
Many Republicans were deeply pessimistic. Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi told the Senate, ``It is becoming more obvious every day that the White House is not prepared to reach an agreement with the Congress to balance the budget.'' Rep. John Kasich of Ohio, chairman of the House Budget Committee, said, ``I have seen no visible signs of progress.''
Behind closed doors, Gingrich and Rep. Dick Armey of Texas, the majority leader, spoke even more sharply. One freshman at their meeting said, ``Speaker Gingrich said he does not believe President Clinton is serious about balancing the budget.'' He said the speaker told them Dole agreed.
One provision of the Republican leaders' plan would wrap all the appropriations bills still to be enacted into a single omnibus measure. Republican leaders said it would be adjusted to meet some of the objections in Clinton's veto messages, but certainly not all of them.
That bill would end some government programs Republicans have opposed, said one highly placed Republican, carrying the message to federal workers: ``Come March 15, some of you had better make plans, because you're not coming back, even if there is an agreement. Some of the government is gone.''
Democrats are unlikely to oppose either the return-to-work bill or the high-profile grants. Sen. Thomas Daschle of South Dakota, the minority leader, said, ``Anything is better than nothing, so we might as well take what we can.''
The Washington Post contributed information to this story.
LENGTH: Long : 110 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. National parks and monuments could be reopened ifby CNBthe House passes a proposal from Republican leaders. Its prospects
were uncertain, however. color.