Clinton's battle continues

Republicans resist pressure to end probe

WASHINGTON - Unbowed by public opinion mounting against them, House Republican leaders rejected yesterday any kind of a deal that would preclude full consideration of impeachment of President Clinton and said a compromise for a lighter punishment would be unjustified.

"For anybody to talk about doing anything until we finish the investigative process simply puts the cart before the horse," declared House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.).

AP PHOTO President Clinton joins House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) in applause after South African President Nelson Mandela was presented the Congressional Gold Medal on Capitol Hill yesterday.

In a meeting earlier in the day, House Democrats had pushed for a 30-day timetable to wrap up the congressional investigation of Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky, and Minority Leader Richard Gephardt (D-Mo.) had demanded that independent counsel Kenneth Starr turn over more files that could contain evidence helpful to the president.

But Republicans, who are hoping that Starr will give them evidence of other Clinton misdeeds, do not want to limit the time available for full-scale impeachment proceedings. Any additional evidence against Clinton likely would be related to Starr's five-year investigation of the Whitewater land deal and other matters.

GOP leaders also are responding to pressure from their party's base - staunch conservatives and the religious right - to pursue Clinton aggressively.

At the same time, Gingrich and other Republican lawmakers believe they must bring Democrats into the impeachment process, realizing that it can only move forward with bipartisan support.

House Democrats, however, emboldened by public opinion polls showing increased support for Clinton and high disapproval ratings for Republicans, made their strongest case yet for something short of an open-ended impeachment process.

A day after a new Gallup Poll showed that Clinton's approval rating had risen six points, to 66 percent, after Monday's broadcast of his videotaped grand jury testimony, a new poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press showed that 44 percent of respondents disapprove of the GOP leadership in Congress. That is the highest disapproval rating for congressional Republicans registered all year.

But Gingrich made it clear that Republicans will not be guided solely by public opinion.

"I don't think people want this Congress to deal with a constitutional issue based on the latest overnight poll," he said.

"And I think people would be, frankly, horrified if the Congress was simply a polling institution that enacted a grotesque version of justice based on the latest poll or the latest talk show."

With both parties digging in on increasingly polarized positions, White House spokesperson Mike McCurry said the investigation needs to move more quickly.

"This needs to come to some kind of resolution," he said in an interview. "The House leadership ought to give us a road map. Just tell us how to finish it. If you want to impeach us, impeach us," he challenged. "But let's get on with it."

The speaker's lieutenants, meanwhile, said they would continue to methodically review the Starr documents, with a plan of releasing most everything by Monday. Discussions would then begin on whether to launch a formal impeachment inquiry.

Rep. Bill McCullum (R-Fla.) a leading member of the House Judiciary Committee, said he has already concluded that there is enough evidence to proceed to an impeachment inquiry. But he said the committee still needs to debate the matter in the coming weeks and make a recommendation to the full House.

The panel's chair, Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.) said he agreed with Democrats that the House should complete its work as quickly as possible.

"There is a difference, however, between expeditious work and artificial deadlines which only invite stalling tactics," he said.

09-24-98