August 2, 1998

Veto Kicks Off Double-Dog-Dare-You Election Campaign

How Federal Legislation is Made

The biannual game of double-dog-dare-you between Congress and the President was kicked off a little early when the House last week overrode Clinton’s veto of a bill banning “partial birth” abortions.

Abortion is an issue that Americans have already decided fifty-fifty.

Half oppose altogether, and half approve in the first half of gestation. Only a few knee-jerk liberals support late term abortions. Anything politicians propose now is grandstanding.

Nevertheless, House members voted 296-132 to reinstate the bill -- 10 more than the two-thirds necessary to override. It was the same number that passed the bill originally and included 77 Democrats. The Senate, which fell three votes short of an override majority last year, is expected to take up the bill next month.

From a political standpoint, it doesn’t much matter how the measure fares in the Senate. Conservatives, mostly Republicans; and liberal Democrats represented by Clinton, are just carrying water for their core constituencies.

When the Capitol and the White House are controlled by members of the same party, legislation tumbles out. The results often are of dubious merit because there has been no balancing input.

When power is split between the co-equal branches, one checks the excesses of the other -- sometimes creating grid-lock.

When each political party controls one of the houses of Congress, it doesn’t matter who sits in the White House -- nothing of consequence gets done.

“Yer pays yer money and takes yer choice.”

In all cases, good legislation requires bi-partisanship. This quality seems to be in short supply. We get the kind of representation we deserve (by voting), or deserve the kind we get (by not voting).

As the government moves into the last quarter of an election cycle, each political party crafts legislation for partisan advantage. This is not necessarily bad. Radical ideas thus are thrown into public debate. Electoral consensus often is achieved without contentious laws. Abortion policy is one of these. Racial accommodation is another. Laws represent what society has already decided. It is in this context that passage-veto challenges are conducted.

When Nixon, Reagan and Bush were presidents, they were closely checked by strong Democratic majorities in Congress. The latter regularly sent up veto-proof spending bills, and Republican presidents were afraid to shut down the government. As a result of such in-your-face legislation and executive timidity, the national debt soared. To this day, Republican presidents are blamed for Congress’ wild spending spree.

House Speaker Newt Gingrich -- with a Contract For America mandate -- tried the same tactic against Clinton to cut spending. Clinton, facing a Republican Congress short of veto-override, closed down the government rather than cave in.

He successfully blamed Republicans for the fiasco, and they have lost their nerves to play that game again with the Great Schmoozer.

Instead, the Republican Congress has elected to send up controversial measures that have strong appeal to the public but which Clinton opposes. It’s GOP heads I win, tails you lose.

For example, Congress sent the president a bill last month that would impose sanctions on Russia and other nations that export missile technology to Iran. The measure passed 392-22, well above the majority to override Clinton’s subsequent veto. However, Clinton promptly vetoed it.

Clinton opposes the proposal on the basis it would harm relations with Russia and China which he is cultivating. To pre-empt the issue, Clinton imposed trade sanctions against nine Russian companies.

Congress has not yet taken up a veto override effort despite a clear indication it would succeed.

In the congressional hopper are several measures popular in the polls but opposed by Democrats and sure to be vetoed by Clinton if they pass:

• School choice permitting parents to save $2,000 yearly in tax-free education accounts for elementary and secondary school expenses -- including private or parochial schools.
  
• Campaign finance reform prohibiting all soft money, period. None from businesses, but also none from teacher and labor unions.
  
• Withholding aid to foreign nations engaging in religious persecution. China take note.
  
• A scaled down bill to combat drug abuse -- as well as teen smoking.
  
• Eliminate the tax penalty on couples when they marry.
  
• Reduce the capital gains tax to stimulate investment in job producing enterprises.
  
• Eliminate or greatly reduce the “death tax” on inheritances.
  
• A tax cut for families.

This is a lot of political ammunition to throw at Clinton and the Democrats, and not much of it will hit target. But it will keep them dodging and weaving during the upcoming elections.

PARTING SHOTS

What is that stain on Monica’s dress? Not even her dry cleaner knows.

* * *

Holbrook Jackson has it all figured out: “No one is ever old enough to know better.”

By Lindsey Williams, columnist for Sun Coast Media Group newspapers