Gop Reels In Two More Democrats Biden, Harkin Reluctantly Embrace Balance-Budget Amendment

The balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution gained crucial Senate ground Thursday with declarations of support from Democrats Tom Harkin and Joseph Biden. Both men voted against the politically popular measure last year and confront reelection campaigns in 1996.

Their decisions left a handful of undecided Democrats, some of whom have raised objections, in a position to determine the fate of a measure at the core of the Republican drive to rein in government.

“I think we are very close” to having the two-thirds majority needed to prevail, said Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho. He added he was not ready to declare victory.

Harkin announced his decision in a telephone call to reporters in his home state of Iowa. “The balancedbudget amendment is far from perfect, but it’s the best available alternative right now,” he said. “It’s time we pass on to our kids more opportunity, not more debt.”

Biden conveyed his decision in a statement to news organizations Wednesday evening that said he was choosing between “an imperfect amendment or continued spending.”

He reviewed earlier measures he had supported to rein in deficits, said they all had proved unsuccessful and added: “I have concluded that there is nothing left to try except the balanced-budget amendment.”

Both senators noted they had backed unsuccessful Democratic attempts to shelter Social Security from any cuts needed to erase deficits.

Harkin, who voted for a balanced-budget amendment in 1986 but against final passage a year ago, told his interviewers that the politically easy thing for him was to vote against the measure, since many of the voting groups who customarily support him are against it.

Biden said through an aide that re-election considerations played no role in his decision.