Short-Term Shutdown Prevention

Congress will likely be forced to pass a short-term continuing resolution to allow the House and Senate to complete the fiscal 1998 appropriations process without a government shutdown, Senate Majority Leader Lott and House Majority Leader Armey conceded Tuesday.

"If there is a CR, it will be a short-term CR," Armey told reporters, adding such a resolution will be "clean" and not bogged down by extraneous legislative language. Lott and Armey said while contentious issues remain, they are confident Congress can complete the appropriations process by the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30 without a tremendous amount of trouble. Armey acknowledged, however, that some "hardcore" problems remain on population control, census sampling language and a variety of issues on the Labor-HHS appropriations bill.

House Appropriations Chairman Livingston has said he needs Democratic votes to pass the always difficult Labor-HHS bill, but conservatives have threatened to offer a series of amendments that would likely eliminate Democratic support for the measure.

Armey said the Labor-HHS bill, which the House will consider later this week, is within its budget guidelines. He added, "I want the most conservative bill we can get, but it has to be a bill that conservatives will vote for." Armey said the question is whether Republicans can make the bill conservative enough to attract votes from that wing of the House Republican Conference.

Armey said he believes negotiations on the funding measures can move quickly. He noted the House Wednesday will consider seven motions to go to conference on appropriations measures.

Lott said the Senate is in "real good shape" on appropriations, but said the Interior appropriations bill may "take time" because of several issues. He said he would not entertain thoughts of a CR until the last week of September. He said he believes the bills can be finished without much trouble, adding that "the budget agreement helped" and there are "no real deal busters out there."

Lott said, however, the census sampling issues could bog down the Commerce-Justice-State measure. "That's got to be resolved some way," Lott said, adding the House will take the lead.

Discussing the line item veto, Armey said Republicans are in the difficult position of having wanted President Clinton to have the power, but are now questioning his use of it in the budget reconciliation bills.

Armey said he wants to talk with House Ways and Means Chairman Archer to determine if the administration had agreed to the items the president vetoed in the budget and tax bills. If the administration agreed to them, Armey said he would be inclined to allow override votes.