Congress was deadlocked Tuesday over the Brady bill as lawmakers neared the end of a year they hope answered the voters' calls for change. "I believe in miracles," President Clinton said in pressing for compromise on the handgun control legislation.
At the White House, Clinton met privately with Republican and Democratic leaders, thanking them for their help and urging them to find a way to pass the Brady bill before leaving for the year."They're not as far apart as you think - at least Senator Dole is not," Clinton said. Senate Republican Leader Bob Dole was sitting across the table from Clinton as the president hinted that a compromise was in the works.
"We're working on something today," the president said. "I believe in miracles. I believe we may still get this worked out."
As Congress wound down, departing lawmakers agreed to extend jobless benefits for 1 million Americans and approved $18 billion to complete the government's bailout of the savings and loan industry. And the House completed action on its version of a major campaign financing bill.
Laboring into the wee hours Tuesday morning, the House approved, 238-187, a compromise version of the Brady bill, which would force a wait of five business days for handgun purchases. But the compromise ran aground in the Senate, blocked by angry Republicans.
Clinton urged Congress to resolve their differences on the measure quickly, telling a news conference Monday, "I would love it if the Congress could give the Brady bill to the American people for Thanksgiving."
Amid chants, charts and even a clown's hat sported by Rep. Bob Livingston, R-La., to mock one Democratic measure, the House gave final approval to a bill providing the final $18 billion installment on the gigantic savings and loan bailout.
Earlier it narrowly dealt conservatives a setback, voting 219-213 to kill a $90 billion package of spending cuts that relied heavily on Medicare reductions.
"You can join the team that represents change," Rep. John Kasich, R-Ohio, who helped write the cuts, vainly beseeched his colleagues before the final tally.
Instead of approving the conservative-backed spending cuts, representatives approved a measure containing $37 billion in reductions written by Democratic leaders and the White House.
As the end of the congressional year approached, most lawmakers were ready to turn to other accomplishments to stake their claims as agents of change.
For Democrats, it was the party-line passage in August of Clinton's deficit-reduction bill. For Republicans, it was the overwhelming support they gave just last week for the North American Free Trade Agreement, which would pry open markets by gradually dropping tariffs among the United States, Mexico and Canada.
Unwilling to let go of the Brady bill, Senate Democrats were scheduled to return to the measure Tuesday. Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, D-Maine, even threatened to call senators back to the Capitol after Thanksgiving if need-be to break the Brady deadlock.
Democrats were hoping that a public weary of mayhem on the streets would force the GOP to relent on the measure.
But angry Republicans, favoring a Senate-passed version that could phase out the five-day waiting period in four years instead of five as in the House version, seemed determined to hold out.
"Are we going through a political charade or do you want a bill?" Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, a National Rifle Association member, told Democratic bargainers. "If you want a bill, accept the Senate bill."
Supporters have tried for seven years to pass the Brady bill.