Deal Sends Federal Employees To Work But Agencies Won’t Get Operating Funds Unless Clinton Accepts Balanced Budget Plan
Bowing to apparent public disgust over the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, Congress approved legislation Friday to return 280,000 furloughed federal employees to work until Jan. 26 and fund several high-profile federal programs. President Clinton later signed the measure sending employees back to work.
The Senate and House acted despite GOP concerns that the reprieve will relax pressure on Clinton to negotiate a broader budget agreement.
The bill falls short of reopening the government because, although it pays the salaries of 780,000 federal workers, it does not include operating funds for many federal activities.
But Congress also passed, by voice vote, a second bill that would reopen the entire federal government until Jan. 26 - paying both operating costs and workers’ salaries. But that bill will go to the White House and take effect only if Clinton accepts Republicans’ demand that he submit a proposal for balancing the budget in seven years, using Congressional Budget Office estimates.
Clinton so far has refused to do so, but Republican leaders, after a meeting with him at the White House Friday, said that they are hopeful that Clinton will produce such a plan soon, clearing the way for full restoration of government services. But, House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., cautioned: “He has not made a decision.”
The Senate passed the bill to send federal employees back to work without operating funds by voice vote. The House passed the same bill by 401-17, with 15 Republicans and two Democrats voting against it. Only two area representatives voted no: Helen Chenoweth, R-Idaho, and Linda Smith, R-Wash.
The huge margin is a testament to the unpopularity of the government shutdown - and to the party discipline applied to Republicans by Gingrich, who made a stern appeal to his troops to accept a fundamental shift in GOP budget strategy.
“He didn’t leave any room for anyone to vote no,” said Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas.
Although Clinton signed the bill that sends workers back to their jobs without operating funds, he said it “amounts to cruel and unusual punishment” because it leaves many federal services without funds. Under the bill, federal workers at affected agencies would return to their jobs with pay but would not be able to spend federal money for such purposes as disbursing federal grants and contracts and purchasing equipment.
However, the measure includes operating funds for a small list of the government’s most popular and visible functions, including veterans benefits, national parks and passport processing.
In another step toward easing the effects of the shutdown, Congress passed late Friday another bill that would restore operating funds for programs in another 17 agencies until Sept. 30, including law enforcement activities at the Justice Department, Medicare, Medicaid, the National Institutes of Health, the Peace Corps, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, black lung benefits for coal miners, and certain American Indian programs.
The House approved it, 344-24, and the Senate passed it by a voice vote. Clinton is expected to sign it.
After the votes, the House recessed until Jan. 23, when Clinton is scheduled to deliver his annual State of the Union message.
Republicans said the bills passed Friday represent a new GOP budget strategy of reopening the government bit by bit, by funding the activities they like and starving the programs they don’t.
But Democrats said the move to send federal employees back to work was a major concession from House Republicans, who had refused to reopen the government until an agreement was reached with the White House to balance the budget in seven years.
xxxx BUDGET BILL HIGHLIGHTS Some 280,000 federal employees would return to their jobs and be reimbursed for lost salaries. Another 480,000, working without wages since Dec. 16, would receive full current and retroactive pay. The legislation would last through Jan. 26. A host of government programs would be funded, including assistance to the elderly, veterans and welfare recipients. National parks, passport offices and museums would reopen. The government’s biggest welfare program, Aid to Families with Dependent Children, and foster care adoption assistance to states would last through March 15. Associated Press