Mich. congress reps approve budget deal

Most of Michigan's congressional delegation voted for final approval of a massive budget deal with President Clinton. After Congress approved the $390 billion spending plan last week, it adjourned for the year.

The senate voted 74-24 Friday for the budget measure that contained bipartisan victories. Michigan's senators split on the vote with Carl Levin, a Democrat, voting against the bill while Spencer Abraham, a Republican, voted for it.

In Michigan's 16-member House delegation, nine members voted for the measure Thursday. The House version passed 296-135.

Two Republicans and four Democrats voted against the measure, including Vernon Ehlers (R-Grand Rapids) and Lynn Rivers (D-Ann Arbor). Rep. John Conyers (D-Detroit) did not vote.

Michigan lawmakers had mixed feelings about the bill.

"In the final analysis, this bill was more good than bad," said Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Menominee).

"It is not perfect, but it represents an acceptable compromise that sufficiently meets the needs of Americans," said Rep. Pete Hoekstra, (R-Holland).

Sen. Levin and some members of Michigan's House delegation complained they were not given enough time to review the mammoth spending measure and determine what was in it before they had to vote.

Levin also objected to what he described as the "gimmickry" used to keep the budget balanced, such as "saving" $3.5 billion by moving the last military pay day to the next fiscal year.

The measure gave President Clinton and Democrats victories with money for hiring more teachers and police officers, buying park land and paying United Nations dues.

It let Republicans claim wins by saying they had limited Clinton's demands for extra spending to $6 billion. The GOP also took credit for higher education spending and for finishing the year without spending Social Security surpluses.

But the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office and Democrats contest the latter claim, saying the bill exceeds spending limits by more than $30 billion and eats into Social Security's reserves. The final financial tally will not be known until the end of the fiscal year.

"I cannot support a dishonest budget that is balanced by spending the Social Security surplus," Stabenow said.

Sen. Abraham said "both Congress and the Administration have agreed that this package does not touch the Social Security surplus." However, he said if the CBO shows any portion of the Social Security surplus is being used for the measure, he would support retroactive spending cuts "to prevent that from occurring."

Most House lawmakers voting against the spending measure objected to not knowing all the details of the bill and said it spent too much money.

"It was a $390 billion spending measure that frankly we did not have a chance to thoroughly review before casting a vote on it," Barcia said.

Upton agreed. "When I saw the traditional pork projects that got added, I held my nose and voted no."

Ehlers said the Republican-controlled Congress "did a marvelous job of controlling spending" but he objected to the bill because it changed a milk pricing agreement the Agriculture Department had planned to simplify milk pricing.

Congress also gave final passage to a bill extending expiring tax breaks and ensuring that the disabled keep their health benefits when they take jobs.

Passage in the Senate on Friday was 95-1, with Abraham and Levin voting for it.

The vote Thursday in the House was 418-2. The Michigan delegation voted for the measure except Conyers, who missed the vote.

The tax measure was a 10-year, $18 billion package extending the research and development credit and other tax provisions. Attached to it were bills delaying new Clinton administration rules for getting donated organs to the sickest patients and extending federal health care benefits for disabled people who get jobs.

Also as part of other legislation passed in the final day of Congress were:

-A Senate bill sponsored by Abraham that clarified company trademark protections on the Internet. The bill penalizes those who register popular trademark names and then sell them for exorbitant fees.

-A Levin-sponsored measure enabling physicians, under certain conditions, to prescribe a new medication, called Buprenorphine, aimed at suppressing heroine addiction.

11-22-99