The Hot Seat Our Weekly Look At Who’s In Trouble

(From The Hot Seat, Sunday, February 19, 1995): Last week, we said George Nethercutt voted to repeal the Davis-Bacon Act. Our point was right but our words were wrong. There hasn’t been a vote yet. What we should have said is: During the campaign, Nethercutt declined to say clearly whether he opposed the Davis-Bacon Act. This week he SPONSORED a bill to repeal it.

How’s George Nethercutt doing, you ask?

Well, Clinton gave our Listener of the House a bloody nose by threatening to close the mines offices in seven GOP congressional districts. Whack, 200 jobs. Remember last October, when Nethercutt declined to say clearly whether he opposed the Davis-Bacon Act? This week he voted to repeal it. And now Nethercutt, who serves on the Agriculture Committee’s appropriations subcommittee, tells us Congress is looking for ways to move government out of agriculture. Translation: cut subsidies. Rural voters, who fueled Nethercutt’s victory, are coming undone. They want the pro-subsidy story told. They want to be saved from the man they elected.

Balancing the budget on a diet of baloney

This week, Senate Republicans killed a proposal requiring them to explain their budget balancing magic. Idaho Republican Sen. Larry Craig whined it would be like requiring a dieter to lay out “every bite of food” he would swallow over the next two years. Cry us a river, Craig. Opinion polls show Americans support both the balanced-budget amendment and a requirement that Congress specify how it would balance the budget in the time allotted. Taxpayers deserve to know if this is a real diet or one of those Oprah Winfrey, skinny-today-fat-tomorrow plans. Quit dodging.

The great golf conspiracy

Bill! Don’t do it. Don’t play golf in Bob Hope’s Desert Classic Tournament. It’s a conspiracy involving the FBI, the CIA, the CAT and the DOG. Why else would the Secret Service let the president of the United States play in the same foursome with Gerald Ford. A highly trained golf assassin, he can hit a spectator on the head from a mile away. Bill! It’s a trap.

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