President Clinton Wednesday night met at the White House with Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., and House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo.,reaching agreement with the leaders on a series of legislative priorities for next year while maintaining separate stances on presidential fast track trade negotiating authority and taxes.
White House Press Secretary Michael McCurry today said the top items on both the White House and the Democratic leadership's agenda will be education, environmental protection, the patients' bill of rights unveiled last month by the president, juvenile crime and child care.
"In those areas . . . we've got a lot of harmony in the positions that are being advanced by members of Congress and by the administration, and we should be able to work well together," McCurry said. He added there was also agreement "that it was very important" to push for campaign finance reform.
One House leadership aide called the hourlong meeting "very positive, very constructive."
Although House leadership sources said the issue did not come up in the meeting, McCurry indicated that Clinton and Gephardt will continue to part ways on fast track. McCurry said that while the president and Gephardt both seek "U.S. leadership in a strong global economy," as well as "environmental protection and worker rights," there nevertheless "will be some times when we will pursue those objectives in somewhat different ways."
The administration continues to weigh whether to try again for comprehensive legislation to renew fast track or seek more limited authority for sectoral trade deals. A House leadership aide indicated that Gephardt, who led this fall's successful effort to derail the measure, would support the sector-by-sector approach and would not offer the alternative fast track proposal he has drafted.
McCurry said the group also discussed tax reform and strategies for confronting in a unified manner "what may come from the Republican side on tax reform." Clinton did not embrace Gephardt's tax proposal, McCurry said, although a House leadership aide said the group did agree with the principles for tax relief that the President laid out earlier this week: that any tax cuts be fair, fiscally responsible, good for the economy and simplify the system.
Clinton also strongly committed himself to help elect Democrats to the House and Senate next year.
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