Vote may undercut impeachment effort
Election spurs GOP to resolve matter quickly
By Bob Hohler, Globe Staff, 11/05/98
WASHINGTON - The next act of the 105th Congress - a hearing next week on the standards for impeaching a president - may be one of its last.
With the surprise results of Tuesday's election apparently underscoring the public's disdain for the push to impeach President Clinton, House Republicans yesterday faced the dilemma of trying quickly to resolve the investigation of Clinton's sex scandal without further harming the GOP cause.
The following week, the House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to open hearings into the circumstances surrounding Clinton's extramarital affair with Monica S. Lewinsky. There were reports last night that the committee chairman had plans at this point to call only the independent counsel, Kenneth W. Starr, and one other witness to testify.
As television networks geared up for the potential spectacle, several analysts said House Republican leaders are resigned to the apparent futility of the impeachment effort and are privately exploring possible legal and political alternatives.
Democrats cut the narrow GOP majority in the House from 11 seats to 6 in the election. And Republicans did not gain strength in the Senate, where they hold 55 seats, 12 shy of the 67 they would need to remove Clinton from office.
As a result, the 106th Congress, which convenes in January, is expected to be even less inclined to consider removing Clinton.
''After the election, it's pretty clear there isn't going to be an impeachment,'' said former Representative Bill Frenzel, a Minnesota Republican House member for 20 years before he became a guest scholar at the Brookings Institution in Washington. ''The Republicans need to find a way to get rid of it before the end of this year.''
That is the most urgent of several problems confronting House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who also faces the possible wrath of rank-and-file GOP lawmakers over unexpected election gains by Democrats.
In addition, Gingrich may be saddled with trying to protect his speakership while Clinton and the larger Democratic minority, reenergized by the election results, step up the pressure to enact their programs.
''Certainly, the speaker's strength has been diminished,'' said Robert D. Reischauer, former director of the Congressional Budget Office. ''There is going to be a certain amount of looking over one's shoulder going on among the House Republican leadership.''
However, it remained unclear if the GOP rank and file has the power, or inclination, to oust Gingrich, who has pledged to step down in 2000 after his third term as speaker.
Amid the uncertainty, the 106th Congress is expected to look, and legislate, much like the 105th. Analysts said Republican leaders will be handcuffed by the possibility that as few as six GOP moderates or conservatives can block their agenda by threatening to vote with a unified Democratic minority.
Similar scenarios played out in the 105th Congress, as efforts by GOP leaders to push several initiatives, including using the budget surplus for tax cuts, were stymied by rebellious factions within their ranks.
''What we've seen this year is what we'll see next year,'' Frenzel said.
Even most of the issues will be similar, from overhauling managed care regulations and the campaign finance system to banning late-term abortions and abolishing the so-called marriage tax penalty.
However, the White House has vowed to make the next session's top priority designing a long-term plan to preserve the Social Security system. And top Clinton supporters vowed to continue to press issues that were blocked this year by the Republican majority.
''I will renew the fight for things that will make a difference in people's lives, starting with urgently needed reforms in HMOs, aid for school construction repair, and an increase in the minimum wage,'' Senator Edward M. Kennedy said.
Still, the impeachment problem looms. And no one expects the issue to be easily resolved, because the House is obligated to complete the formal inquiry it authorized last month.
''They took the first step, which was like taking the first step off the mountain when you are skiing,'' Reischauer said. ''Once you start down, you can't go back up. They are going to have a very, very difficult time.''
Gingrich also must consider the views of the Judiciary Committee chairman, Henry J. Hyde of Illinois, whose reputation could be harmed if GOP leaders seek to curtail the impeachment process.
Hyde issued a statement yesterday indicating he hoped to stay the course.
''The committee continues to have a clear constitutional duty to complete its work in a fair and expeditious manner,'' Hyde said. ''This was just as true before the election as it is today.''
Hyde had said he hoped to complete the inquiry by the end of the year. But committee lawyers have yet to begin formally interviewing potential hearing witnesses and the schedule for the proceedings remains uncertain, but The Washington Post reported today that the committee could vote on the articles of impeachment by Thanksgiving.
The allegations against Clinton include perjury, obstruction of justice and witness tampering. But the panel's work could be complicated if the independent counsel, Kenneth W. Starr, who is reportedly investigating whether Clinton made a sexual advance to former White House aide Kathleen Willey, recommends additional charges.
Clinton's lawyers also are expected to protest any attempts to speed up the proceedings at the expense of the president's due process rights.
A spokeswoman for the Judiciary Committee said Hyde planned to issue a statement this week that may discuss a timetable.
The Associated Press quoted a House source as saying Hyde told GOP members of his panel yesterday, that in addition to Starr, he planned to call an expert on the meaning of testifying under oath to help the committee decide whether Clinton committed perjury in his testimony about Lewinsky.
The chairman added that he was leaving several open dates for other witnesses possibly to be called if members or his investigators request additional testimony.
Meanwhile, committee members in both parties said they believed voters had sent the House a message that they were sick of the matter.
''They want to admonish the president and bring it to a conclusion,'' said Representative Martin T. Meehan, a Lowell Democrat.
Representative Mary Bono of California, the only Republican woman on the panel, said she heard the same message as Representative Charles E. Schumer, a New York Democrat and committee member, who defeated Senator Alfonse M. D'Amato on Tuesday.
Bono quoted Schumer as saying, ''People are definitely tired with the impeachment. They want to put it behind them.''
She said, ''I can't agree with him more.''
This story ran on page A01 of the Boston Globe on 11/05/98.
© Copyright 1998 Globe Newspaper Company.
