This Week on the Hill

With a two-week spring recess looming, the House this week is poised to take up a couple of highly charged issues, a measure to ban a certain type of late-term abortion and a bill to allow private sector employees the option of taking time off in lieu of overtime pay.

The Senate GOP leadership also had hoped to move the comp time bill to the floor this week, but protracted wrangling over the measure in the Labor and Human Resources Committee appears to have delayed floor consideration until after the Easter break. On Thursday, the day before the recess is slated to start, the House is expected to take up the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act, which would ban a specific procedure used in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy. This is the second trip through the legislative process for the bill in two years; President Clinton vetoed an earlier version in 1996. The House overrode the veto, but the Senate fell a handful of votes short.

Backers of the measure are hoping to capitalize on the continuing fallout from the admission last month by the executive director of the National Coalition of Abortion Providers that he lied about the number of times the contested procedure is used. But while those on both sides have traded charges and countercharges about the frequency of the procedure, which neither side claims represents more than one-half of 1 percent of the roughly 1.3 million abortions performed annually, the larger issue is what the bill might mean to the availability of abortions in general. Opponents of the ban charge that by attempting to ban abortions before fetal "viability," the bill violates Roe vs. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion nationwide. They also charge that Roe and its successor cases require, but the bill does not provide, an exception to allow the procedure to be used not just to save the woman's life, but also to protect her health.

Bill supporters insist Roe does not apply in this case, since the legislation refers not to a fetus, but to a "partially-born" infant. They also say that adding a health exception would gut the bill, since courts have interpreted health to include a broad array of ailments, including depression.

A group of mainly abortion rights supporting House members, led by Reps. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., and James Greenwood, R-Pa., are hoping to be able to offer a substitute measure that would ban all post-viability abortions, not just this single procedure, but also allow exceptions for life and "serious adverse health consequences" for pregnant women.

During its markup of the bill last Wednesday, the Judiciary Committee voted down that language on a straight party-line vote.

The "comp time" measure is due up on the House floor Wednesday; it has been designated as H.R. 1 by the House leadership.

While Clinton supports the general idea of comp time, Acting Labor Secretary Cynthia Metzler has issued veto threats against both the House and Senate bills because, she contended, they do not adequately protect workers from being coerced into taking comp time instead of overtime pay, and do not allow workers the right to take accrued comp time when they want it.

Republican sponsors argue their bills are modeled after the comp time option currently available to government employees, and that there have been few complaints of coercion or workers being denied comp time when they want it.

Formally entitled the Working Families Flexibility Act, the comp time measure cleared the House Education and the Workforce Committee March 5 on a 23-17 party-line vote. During House floor debate, Democrats are expected to offer many of the amendments they did during committee markup, including one to broaden the Family and Medical Leave Act.

Republicans may offer a manager's amendment to exempt certain types of seasonal workers from comp time arrangements, and lower the number of total hours an employee could "bank" as comp time, the subject of Democratic amendments voted down in committee. Potential amendments are due Monday in the House Rules Committee, which will meet Tuesday to consider the rule.

Meanwhile, Democrats have successfully stalled passage of the Senate comp time bill out of the Labor and Human Resources panel. The Senate markup will resume Tuesday morning.

The markup last week became increasingly rancorous as Labor and Human Resources Chairman Jeffords wanted move the bill quickly, while ranking member Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., wanted to offer several more amendments. Kennedy at one point threatened Democrats might walk out of the markup, and thus take away a quorum for final passage, if not allowed to offer amendments. Both chambers will get off to a slow start this week. The House will meet in pro forma session Monday, and no votes are scheduled before 5 p.m. Tuesday, when votes on up to five suspension bills will take place.

A resolution authorizing funding for House committees is due for action Thursday following the abortion measure, and the House will not be in session Friday.

The Senate has no roll call votes slated for Monday, with the first roll call vote of the week, at 2:45 p.m. Tuesday, on a constitutional amendment sponsored by Sen. Ernest Hollings, D- S.C., that would allow Congress to set spending limits on congressional campaigns. Such limits were ruled unconstitutional by in the Supreme Court's 1976 Buckley v. Valeo decision.

It does not appear the Hollings amendment has the two-thirds majority vote necessary to pass; a leading foe of the proposal, Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., predicted Friday that it would "fall well short of 50 [votes]."

For the balance of the week, the Senate may take up the nomination of Merrick Garland to be a U.S. Circuit Court judge for the District of Columbia.

Also on this week's Senate floor list is a resolution involving the president's certification of Mexico for its anti- drug efforts.

The House last week passed a resolution overturning Clinton's Feb. 28 certification of Mexico's anti-drug efforts. However, in the Senate, a group of senators opposed to overturning the certification said late last week that momentum in that body is building for a sense of Congress resolution that would talk about doing more to fight drugs but would take no action to decertify Mexico.

Off the floors, the following is a summary of other major activity expected this week:

CONGRESSIONAL LEADERSHIP: House Speaker Gingrich's scheduled public appearances include a Tuesday address to the Friends of Ireland in the Capitol's Rayburn Room and a Wednesday talk before the California Agriculture Leadership Program in Room HC-7 of the Capitol.

On Tuesday morning, Gingrich and Senate Majority Leader Lott are slated to hold a bicameral congressional leadership meeting.

APPROPRIATIONS/BUDGET: Even though the April 15 deadline for passage of a budget resolution is quickly approaching, the House and Senate Budget panels have not yet scheduled a markup of an FY98 blueprint. Instead, Republicans on the House Budget Committee are expected to meet sometime this week to continue to craft their recommendations for a budget resolution.

On the Senate side, the Budget Committee will meet Wednesday to begin a walk-through of budget functions. House Majority Leader Armey said last week he expects both committees to try to mark up identical plans during the first two weeks of May.

And although informal budget talks between the White House and congressional Republicans may be stalled, House and Senate appropriations subcommittees this week will continue hearings on the administration's FY98 budget.

BANKING: On Tuesday, the House Banking Committee will mark up H.R. 607, the Homeowners Insurance Protection Act. On Wednesday, the House Banking Capital Markets Subcommittee holds a financial services modernization hearing. And the Senate Banking Committee Wednesday will mark up S. 318, a measure dealing with private mortgage insurance.

EDUCATION: The Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee on Thursday will hold another in a series of hearings on reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. The focus will be the education, training and development of future and current elementary and secondary school teachers.

ENERGY: The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Thursday is holding its third "workshop" session on electric utility deregulation, with a focus on whether federal legislation is necessary.

And House Commerce Chairman Bliley is the luncheon keynote speaker today at a conference on electricity deregulation sponsored by the Progress and Freedom Foundation being held at the National Press Club.

ENVIRONMENT: Senate Environment and Public Works Chairman Chafee is speaking Wednesday at 9 a.m. on proposed air quality standards at an environmental conference at the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Arlington. The Environment and Public Works panel will hold a hearing Tuesday on proposals to allow states to restrict the interstate transport of waste.

In addition, that panel's National Parks, Historic Preservation and Recreation Subcommittee will hold a Thursday hearing on the future of the national park system.

HEALTH: Senate Labor and Human Resources ranking member Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., today plans to outline a plan to protect Medicare's solvency by taking steps to modestly increase, through more preventative care and other steps, the annual decline in disability that a new Duke University study of Medicare patients has found.

"The Duke study calculates that we could maintain Medicare's solvency for the long run by modestly increasing that annual decline in disability," Kennedy's office said Friday. This new strategy would preserve Medicare's solvency "without reducing benefits or raising taxes," Kennedy's office said.

In other Medicare-related developments, the Senate Finance Committee plans two days of hearings Wednesday and Thursday on improving Medicare choices. Health Care Financing Administrator Bruce Vladeck will be the leadoff witness Wednesday.

On Thursday, the Ways and Means Health Subcommittee will hold a hearing on recommendations regarding Medicare hospital and physician payment policies. And the House Commerce Health and Environment Subcommittee is holding a hearing Wednesday on Medicare provider service networks.

Also this week, the House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Tuesday plans a markup of a bill extending the terms of members of the Prospective Payment Assessment Commission and the Physician Payment Review Commission.

LABOR: More than two months after President Clinton nominated her for labor secretary, White House Public Liaison Alexis Herman will appear for her confirmation hearing Tuesday before the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee. Herman is the only witness scheduled to testify, and a committee spokesman said the hearing is expected to last just one day.

The use of dues for political activities and contributions by labor unions will be the subject of a Tuesday hearing of the House Education and the Workforce Employer-Employee Relations Subcommittee. Union representatives and union workers are expected to testify.

TAXES: The House Ways and Means Committee Wednesday will hold a hearing on the savings and investments proposals in President Clinton's FY98 budget, including proposals to exclude up to $500,000 in capital gains on the sale of a principal residence, expand individual retirement accounts and scale back the estate tax.

TELECOMMUNICATIONS: The House Commerce Telecommunications, Trade and Consumer Protection Subcommittee is holding a hearing Wednesday on the WTO telecommunications agreement. On Wednesday, the Senate Commerce Committee will hold its second hearing on universal telephone service.

The Senate Judiciary Terrorism, Technology and Government Information Subcommittee Wednesday will hold a hearing on Internet crime. The House Judiciary Committee holds a hearing on Thursday on the Security and Freedom Through Encryption Act.

TRADE: Newly confirmed U.S. Trade Representative Barshefsky is scheduled to discuss the Clinton administration's trade policy objectives for its second term at a hearing Tuesday of the House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee.

A Barshefsky spokesman last week said the top trade negotiator would talk generally about fast-track negotiating authority, but would not present a detailed administration proposal.

On Wednesday, the full Ways and Means panel plans to mark up the bill authorizing for the next two years the U.S. Trade Representative's office, the International Trade Commission and the U.S. Customs Service.

TRANSPORTATION: On Thursday, the Senate Commerce Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Subcommittee will hold a hearing on a shipping deregulation bill sponsored by Chairwoman Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas.

The legislation would exempt the shipping of fully assembled automobiles from tariff and service contract reporting requirements, and would allow federal regulators more flexibility to grant general exemptions for other products to the disclosure requirements.

Hutchison's bill also would merge the Federal Maritime Commission with the Surface Transportation Board into a new Intermodal Transportation Board. The heads of those two agencies are scheduled to testify at the hearing.

The Clinton administration's FY98 budget plan for the Coast Guard will be the subject of hearings Tuesday before the Senate Commerce Ocean and Fisheries Subcommittee, and Wednesday and Thursday before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Coast Guard and Maritime Subcommittee.

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Aviation Subcommittee will hold a hearing Thursday to review the Coopers and Lybrand study of the FAA's financial status and funding sources.

The Senate Environment and Public Works Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee will hold a Wednesday hearing on state and municipal transportation planning, and the environmental impact of transportation projects.

WELFARE: The House Ways and Means Human Resources Subcommittee has scheduled a markup Wednesday of the welfare reform technical corrections bill and a hearing Thursday on the Clinton administration's child support enforcement proposals.