Senate three votes shy of veto-proof majority to ban partial-birth abortion. The Rev. Bill Hybels, who spends an hour each month with Pres. Clinton “focused on his spiritual development,” has sent Clinton three letters urging him to sign the bill. There are dissenters still: after American Medical Association endorses ban, Philadelphia Daily News editorializes that AMA “should take two Valium and get back to the golf course.” Sen. Joe Lieberman (Conn.), formerly some conservatives’ favorite Democrat, votes against ban. So do ten Democrats up for re-election in ’98: Boxer (Calif.), Bumpers (Ark.), Dodd (Conn.), Feingold (Wisc.), Graham (Fla.), Inouye (Hawaii), Mikulski (Md.), Moseley-Braun (Ill.), Murray (Wash.), Wyden (Ore.). After misleading press accounts, Bill Bennett clarifies position: the ban should be passed, and then Congress should revisit alternative ban on late-term abortions proposed by Sen. Daschle (D., S.D.)…. Sens. Hatch (R., Utah) and Kennedy (D., Mass.) were defeated in attempt to attach health-insurance plan to budget agreement. Future tries likely to be more successful: bill will sail through Finance Committee with support of GOP Sens. D’Amato (N.Y.), Jeffords (Vt.), Hatch. Utah Republican Party adopts resolution condemning bill despite Hatch speech. … Sen. Strom Thurmond (R., S.C.), already the oldest senator ever at 94, becomes the longest-serving senator: “When I first came up here, we would get through the work in June or July. . . . Now we’re here year-round. It might be better for the country if it was like it was before. The longer Congress stays in session, the more they find something to do.”
Jack Kemp tells Jesse Jackson, “You and I both should run to protect the country from Al Gore in 2000.” In Florida, Kemp criticizes last year’s welfare reform for cutting off benefits to non-citizens. . . . Washington Times’s Donald Lambro reports that Gore was the critical player in deciding not to grant Texas Gov. George W. Bush a waiver from federal regulations to implement pro-privatization welfare reform. . . . Business Week reports the deep-in-debt DNC is “asking some political operatives to work on credit” and quotes one consultant: “If you want to be a player, you don’t have a choice. But who knows if they’re ever going to pay?” . . . Rob Hood, now a legislative assistant to Newt Gingrich dubbed “Robin Hood” by critics in property-rights movement, to be promoted to assistant to the Speaker.
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