Clinton accused of trying to provoke government shutdown

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, Tuesday blamed the budget impasse squarely on President Clinton, charging that Clinton's Monday night veto of the fiscal 2001 Treasury-Postal/Legislative Branch conference report shows the President wants to provoke a government shutdown.

Stevens said appropriators could continue working with the administration on the remaining FY2001 spending bills and potentially wrap things up by Friday.

"At this point, I think it's still possible for us to finish by the end of the week. I would prefer to get this thing done and go home." But he later added, "I don't see how we can do anything today. There's a total element of distrust" between the Republican-controlled Congress and Clinton.

Referring to the 1995 shutdown standoff between Clinton and the newly elected Republican Congress, Stevens told reporters: "The mile posts from 1995 and the mile posts from the year 2000 look identical to me as I'm going down this trail. It's time for the White House to tell us they're not going to shut down the government, based upon the five bills the President has not signed."

As evidence, Stevens pointed to Clinton's veto message on Treasury-Postal/Legislative Branch, which focuses not on any objections to those bills, but rather to the still open Labor-HHS conference report.

Clinton wrote, "The Congress' continued refusal to focus on the priorities of the American people leaves me no alternative but to veto this bill. I cannot in good conscience sign a bill that funds the operations of the Congress and the White House before funding our classrooms, fixing our schools and protecting our workers."

Also outstanding is the combined Commerce-Justice-State/District of Columbia appropriations package, which Congress adopted last week but has yet to send to Clinton. The Foreign Operations spending bill is at the White House, awaiting an expected signature.

Stevens reiterated that the administration had promised to sign Treasury- Postal/Legislative Branch measure if Congress provided another $350 million for the IRS and counter-terrorism programs--which was done in the FY2001 Transportation spending bill. But Clinton today denied he had ever made such a promise.

"The relationship has been so poisoned by this veto that it'll be a long time to bring back the trust," Stevens said. "We still will do our job, but it will not be based on trust. It will be based on confrontation [with the President]. And that's what led us into trouble in 1995."