Senate Rejects Revised Bush Crime Plan : Law Enforcement: The GOP eliminates two controversial proposals. An alternative bill backed by Democrats faces amendments today.

The Senate voted down a revised version of President Bush’s anti-crime package late Thursday, rejecting Republican claims that the measure was tougher than a rival Democratic measure in expanding the federal death penalty, curbing Death Row appeals and easing rules against use of illegally obtained evidence.

Despite the 56-40, largely party-line vote against the overall Bush plan, Republicans were thought to stand a fair chance of getting key parts restored when the Senate begins amending the Democrat-drafted alternative today.

Thursday night’s skirmish was a preliminary test of competing bills on a politically potent issue that could plunge the Senate into raucous debate for several weeks. President Bush has threatened to veto the Democratic legislation as it now stands.

With their revised package, Republicans sought to attract the votes of GOP liberals and Democratic conservatives by incorporating a Democratic proposal to provide $3.2 billion in new law enforcement funds earmarked mostly for more police, prosecutors and prisons.

As an added inducement, GOP leaders also dropped two controversial proposals from the Bush package. One would have allowed secret deportation trials for aliens suspected of terrorism, and the other would have permitted unconditional admission of illegally seized firearms as trial evidence.

The revised bill offered by the Republicans omitted two gun control provisions contained in the Democratic alternative. One would ban 14 domestic models of semiautomatic “assault weapons,” and the other would require a seven-day waiting period for handgun purchases.

Although he has threatened to veto the “Brady bill” handgun purchase provisions standing alone, Bush has said he might accept a waiting period or instant background check of purchasers if Congress accepts the main provisions of his anti-crime proposal.

Despite their maneuvering, GOP leaders picked up only two Democrats and lost four Republicans when the revised Bush measure came to a vote. Sen. John Seymour (R-Calif.) backed the Bush plan, but Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.) opposed it.

By defeating the Republican measure and keeping their alternative bill alive, the Democrats kept intact for the moment the gun-control components as well as their provisions on the death penalty, habeas corpus appeals by Death Row inmates and the so-called exclusionary rule on illegally seized evidence.

Democratic leaders also sought to sweeten their anti-crime bill, written by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.).

The Democrats moved to strip from their measure a “racial justice” provision that Republicans claimed would effectively nullify the death penalty in every state. The provision would have prohibited a death sentence if a defendant could show that his or the victim’s race played a role in sentencing.

Voting 55 to 41, the Senate adopted an amendment by Sen. Bob Graham (D-Fla.) to delete the provision.

The Senate will consider today an amendment by Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.) to the Democratic bill to restore Bush’s proposal for relaxing the rule governing the use of illegally seized evidence in court.

The Biden bill codifies existing law, which permits such evidence to be used even if police armed with a search warrant made a mistake, as long as they acted in “good faith.” The Bush proposal would expand the good-faith exception to cases in which no search warrant is obtained.

With eyes cocked toward next year’s presidential and congressional elections, each side sought in debate to portray its bill as tougher on crime than the other.