Although they were defeated on a long string of amendments, conservative House Republicans believe they have still accomplished their goal on the fiscal 1998 Labor-HHS appropriations bill, demonstrating to their colleagues that appropriators failed to deliver a bill that reflected Republican priorities.
"We didn't expect to win the votes," Rep. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., said Wednesday, discussing the myriad of amendments he and his colleagues offered. Coburn said conservatives were able to demonstrate the "tactical error in saying we shouldn't put a Republican Labor-HHS bill on the floor."
Conservatives said that between two-thirds and three-quarters of the House Republican Conference supported their amendments. While Coburn and his colleagues lost on several measures, they declared victory on a few Wednesday, when appropriators, authorizers and conservatives reached agreement on four issues.
The various sides agreed to shift some $200 million from whole school reform programs to compensatory education programs; to restrict federal funds for needle exchanges for drug addicts; to shift $55 million from the Goals 2000 education program to special education; and to prohibit the Education Department from spending funds on national testing, a Clinton administration initiative. The latter issue is expected to be resolved in a House-Senate conference, with administration participation. Testing opponents had said they had the votes to pass the amendment in the House.
"These were major goals when we started this process," Rep. David McIntosh, R-Ind., told reporters, contending that if conservatives had not spent the past several days offering amendments, appropriators would not have cut the deal, under which conservatives agreed not to offer an additional 12 amendments.
"I think we've made a difference," McIntosh said.
However, conservatives remain unhappy with the process that led to the bill reaching the floor loaded with so many provisions they found objectionable.
Coburn said the "makeup of the Appropriations Committee" resulted in the bill being written with Democratic participation. He said that the entire budget and appropriations process is "sick" and in need of reform.
McIntosh said the actions by conservatives demonstrate they are unwilling to "roll over" and simply accept the specifics of the budget deal worked out between GOP leaders and the Clinton administration.
He said GOP leaders should not have adopted a "strategy that you're not going to win with Republican votes," adding that the divisions were "generational," and that older members were more willing to go along with Democrats than younger, more conservative members have been.
Rep. John Shadegg, R-Ariz., went further, saying that some conservative Republicans have "concern" with Appropriations subcommittee chairmen, particularly Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman John Edward Porter, R-Ill.
Shadegg said many members of the House Republican Conference believe the Labor-HHS bill did not reflect their priorities, saying that it highlights the "power of the subcommittee chairmen to shape the bill with the minority."
Porter defended the manner in which he wrote the bill.
"We do not have a parliamentary system and [the conservatives] seem to think we do," Porter told reporters.
Said Porter, "Our job is not to find where the center of the party is. It's to find where the center of the Congress is, as representatives of the American people."
He added, "We don't draft bills in the party conferences."
House Republican Conference Chairman John Boehner of Ohio downplayed the divisions among Republicans.
"This is the Labor-HHS bill," Boehner pointed out. "It always is contentious."
Porter had said he was concerned that he needed Democratic votes to pass the Labor-HHS bill, since conservative Republicans would vote against it.
McIntosh, illustrating that such concerns were valid, said he is not sure he will vote for the bill on final passage.
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