THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 12, 1994 TAG: 9408120613
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A01 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: FROM WIRE REPORTS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
In a startling defeat for the House Democratic leadership and an embarrassment for President Clinton, the House derailed a compromise version of the $33 billion anti-crime bill Thursday by refusing on a procedural vote to bring it to the floor.
The vote was 225-210, with 58 Democrats going against their party and their president to yank the package, which contained a ban on the sale of 19 assault weapons. The assault-weapon ban was strenuously opposed by gun proponents, while death penalty provisions were opposed by liberals and blacks.
The move, which an angry Clinton called ``a procedural trick orchestrated by the National Rifle Association, then heavily pushed by the Republican leadership,'' stunned both the White House and Congress. And it dimmed the chances that a comprehensive crime measure would be resurrected during this session of Congress.
``Anyone who thinks we can produce a new crime bill in the month remaining is smoking something,'' said a disappointed Rep. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., who had steered much of the legislation through the House.
``I worked my heart out on it and I did everything I could,'' an angry Clinton said afterward. ``And on this day the NRA and the Republican leadership had their way.''
Nonetheless, Clinton exhorted the House leadership to reconsider the matter and try to produce a crime bill now. ``We can do better than this, and I want the Congress and the House to go back to work tomorrow and figure out how to save the elements of this bill.''
With many Americans ranking crime as their top concern, and with the entire House up for election in November, failure to produce a bill could prod voters to sweep out the incumbents, most of whom are Democrats.
Moreover, the loss of the crime bill deprives the House leadership of much-needed momentum for its foundering health care legislation. And the White House staff already had been suffering from poor morale since the change of Whitewater prosecutors last week.
``It's as if someone upset a beehive around here,'' a gloomy White House aide said. ``Every time we stick our heads up, we get stung.''
Democrats were so stunned at their loss Thursday that they could hardly explain their gross miscalculation.
They were foiled by a bizarre if unintended alliance among liberal blacks, conservative gun proponents and Republicans, and an opposition strategy intended to undermine the legislation by focusing on the decision whether to bring it to the floor for a vote, allowing members to avoid a potentially harder vote on the bill itself.
In addition to the ban on assault-style firearms, the $33 billion package would put 100,000 new police on the streets, authorize life terms for some third-time felons and finance new prisons to hold them. ILLUSTRATION: HOW THEY VOTED
A ``yes'' vote was to debate the package on the House floor. A
``no'' vote was to block further consideration.
Herbert Bateman, R-Va. No
Owen B. Pickett, D-Va. No
Robert A. Scott, D-Va. No
Norman Sisisky, D-Va. No
Eva Clayton, D-N.C. Yes
Martin Lancaster, D-N.C. No
KEYWORDS: U.S. CONGRESS CRIME BILL
by CNB