House GOP Plots Strategy

Competing budget interests are likely to dominate the battle for the hearts and minds of House Republicans this week, as the House GOP Conference heads to a retreat in Williamsburg, Va., to plot a legislative strategy for the remainder of the 105th Congress.

Tight-fisted budget hawks, tax cut proponents, transportation advocates and members representing a myriad of spending views are likely to be vying for dominance amidst Williamsburg's colonial facades. In recent weeks when Republicans have been asked about the divergent budget interests under the GOP tent, they have constantly said, "That's on the agenda for Williamsburg."

Republicans are expected to discuss such issues as whether to try to balance the federal budget this year by passing a rescissions package or simply wait until fiscal 1999. In addition, advocates for strictly enforcing spending caps, including House Budget Chairman John Kasich and GOP Conference Chairman John Boehner, both from Ohio, are expected to appeal to colleagues to resist attempts by House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Bud Shuster, R-Pa., to drastically boost highway spending. Members are leaving today for Williamsburg from the Rayburn House Office Building at 1:30 p.m. House Democrats also are on retreat this week, gathering in Wintergreen, Va., today and Tuesday.

With members out of town for a chunk of the week, the House has a limited floor schedule, while the Senate today dives into potentially emotional debates over human cloning and David Satcher's nomination to become surgeon general and Health and Human Services assistant secretary for health. On the cloning issue, the House Commerce Health and Environment Subcommittee has a Thursday hearing planned. The panel will receive basic information on the subject rather than focus on legislative proposals to restrict research and to ban the cloning of human beings.

And despite the poor prognosis that some GOP House leaders have given the settlement between state attorneys general and the tobacco industry, work on enacting it into law continues to trudge forward, particularly in the Senate.

Both the Senate Judiciary and Labor and Human Resources committees are planning hearings for Tuesday, with Labor and Human Resources set to hear from an administration official and members of the public health community.

Senate Labor and Human Resources Chairman James Jeffords, R-Vt., is likely to enter his own bill into the tobacco legislation sweepstakes later this week.

The measure will deal only with the public health areas that his committee addresses, such as the reduction of smoking among youths and adults, and the jurisdiction over the issue commanded by federal agencies.

Sen. Kent Conrad of North Dakota, chairman of the Senate Democratic tobacco task force, last week began circulating proposed language, but it remains unclear when he will introduce legislation.

Conrad is said to be fine tuning the measure in order to gather as much consensus among Democrats as possible before etching in stone the final details of a bill that is certain to prove controversial.