ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Saturday, February 3, 1996             TAG: 9602050072
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL   PAGE: A1   EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON 
SOURCE: KNIGHT-RIDDER/TRIBUNE 
note: below 

TEA BILL LEAVES GRAHAM FANS WITH BITTER TASTE

You would think a proposed law honoring the Rev. Billy Graham would be about as controversial as kissing your mom, right?

That's Graham - as in the American evangelist who has inspired millions and bound the nation's wounds after last year's Oklahoma City bombing. Graham, 77, is suffering serious health problems. A bill for him should fly, right?

Wrong.

Not in the U.S. Senate, where the legislation was almost derailed by behind-the-scenes bickering.

A week ago, the House passed a bill honoring Graham, 403-2. The bill authorized President Clinton to award Graham and his wife, Ruth, a gold medal for their contributions to ``faith, morality and charity.''

The bill flew to the Senate, where Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., Graham's home state senator, began to shepherd it.

But Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., quietly took the Graham bill hostage, refusing to let it proceed.

In the parliamentary world of the Senate, individual senators can stall or stop legislation by placing a ``hold'' on it. A ``hold'' is a signal by a senator that he will engage in stalling action should the bill be brought to the floor. All this is done secretly.

Reid took the Graham bill hostage to get back at Sen. Paul Coverdell, R-Ga., who had placed a hold on a pet bill of Reid's.

The Reid bill would eliminate a little-known federal group called the Board of Tea Experts. The board, which costs about $200,000 a year, was formed in 1897 to enforce high standards for imported tea. Reid says it has long outlived its usefulness; Coverdell's office says he opposed the measure because of a constituent's concerns.

Knowing the Graham bill was highly popular, Reid placed a hold on it, fully aware that other senators would begin to lean on Coverdell.

Reid, Coverdell, Helms and their staffs finally broke the logjam late this week.

Coverdell has dropped his hold on the tea board bill. Reid has dropped his hold on the Graham bill. All has been forgiven, for now. The Senate passed the tea bill, and - although it wasn't exactly divine intervention - it also passed the Graham bill.

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