Senate GOP, Democrats Offer Divergent Goals

Senate Republicans and Democrats unveiled markedly different legislative priorities Tuesday that will severely test their professed desire to work together harmoniously on behalf of American families.

The competing agendas also signaled the clear intention of the GOP-controlled Senate to take the lead this year rather than follow a House script, as in the previous two years.

At the top of the GOP list are a five-year, $163-billion tax cut; a ban on late-term abortions and a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget--three contentious issues that failed to win passage the last two years.

The Democrats’ top-drawer item is campaign finance reform, which does not appear anywhere on the GOP radar.

Still, there appear to be some common goals--namely, achieving safer schools and cracking down on violent juveniles--and leaders of both parties seized on them to sound a guardedly optimistic note.

“If we’re determined to get the job done for the American people, we can get it done . . . “ declared Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott of Mississippi. “Obviously, both sides feel very strongly and we’ll be tough in negotiations. But we intend to do the people’s business.”

Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), while echoing those sentiments, also noted that the dueling agendas contain “a lot of potential wedge issues.”

The main Republican goal is the passage of the balanced-budget amendment, which fell short by one vote in the Senate last year after the House had approved it easily. The amendment “is the focal point of where we’re going,” said Sen. Connie Mack (R-Fla.), the Senate GOP conference chairman.

Senior Clinton administration officials already have reiterated their opposition to the measure and signaled their intention to lobby against it. Lott has warned that such opposition could affect how willing congressional Republicans are to work with the administration on other matters.

Other items on the GOP agenda include a $500-per-child tax credit, a capital gains tax cut, product liability reform, development of a missile defense system and progress on cleaning up Superfund toxic waste dumps.

The Republicans also would tax only half of capital gains taxes for families and individuals. The special tax break on profits from investments in small businesses--now defined as those with assets of no more than $50 million--would be extended to those with assets up to $100 million.

“This is a very positive . . . mainstream agenda,” said Sen. Don Nickles of Oklahoma, who ranks second to Lott in the Senate Republican leadership.

“We’re not just interested in passing bills for a veto’s sake or for political purposes,” Nickles said. “President Clinton is not running again. So this is a chance for this Congress to work together with the Democrats to enact legislation, get legislation enacted into law. So it could be a very productive, a very effective Congress.”