Despite dipping into the anti-tax, anti-Washington rhetoric that marked former President Reagan's career, Senate Democrats were thwarted Monday in their attempt to attach an IRS reform bill to a measure that would rename Washington National Airport in honor of the former president.
Passage of the Reagan airport bill has become an emotionally charged priority for Republicans, who hope to have a measure on President Clinton's desk by the time of Reagan's 87th birthday Friday.
Senate Minority Leader Daschle and House Minority Leader Gephardt joined Sen. Robert Kerrey, D-Neb., who co-chaired a national IRS reform commission that provided the basis for a bill passed by the House last fall, at a Monday news conference to assert there was no reason to delay action on the IRS measure.
"This bill is being held hostage in the Senate for the benefit of the petty political agenda of the Republican Party," Gephardt contended at an afternoon press conference.
But Sen. Paul Coverdell, R-Ga., who sponsored the Reagan bill, later refused Daschle's Senate floor request to attach IRS reform to it.
As it turned out, additional parliamentary wrangling blocked the Reagan airport bill from passage Monday night, but Senate leaders will try again to move the bill today.
Over the last year, both parties have tried to seize the political advantages of reining in questionable IRS practices and boosting taxpayer rights.
Last fall, after the Clinton administration was awkwardly forced to drop its objections, the House passed an IRS reform bill 426-4.
It then stalled as Senate Finance Chairman Roth insisted on conducting his own hearings and asserting that "IRS reform must be done right."
Roth plans as many as six more hearings before he will move a bill, hopefully by the first week of April, according his spokeswoman.
Democrats criticized the delay as a GOP tactic intended to keep the IRS issue on the front burner.
Daschle and his colleagues insisted Congress can "do it right" and should do it right now.
"Was [House Speaker] Gingrich being irresponsible when he voted for it [last year]?" Kerrey asked.
Gephardt added that by passing the bill now, millions of Americans could gain protection from intrusive audits and even end up with a smaller tax bill, something he asserted Reagan would have championed.
But Senate Majority Leader Lott expressed exasperation with Democrats' objections, saying, "I think a lot of people are looking like schmucks on this, they ought to be ashamed. We didn't question all those Roosevelt things and Kennedy things."
NEXT STORY: GOP Hits New Programs