Opponents of President Clinton's financial rescue mission for Mexico won their first vote in the House and are vowing to continue fighting until they reverse the deal.
A month after Clinton bypassed a reluctant Congress and issued an executive order extending a $20 billion credit line, the House voted 407-21 Wednesday night to ask him to turn over within 14 days a long list of documents concerning the rescue effort."Members of Congress should not have had to fight this hard or wait this long to achieve this first vote on a matter of such profound economic and political consequences to our people and to our continent," said Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, sponsor of the resolution.
So far, House leaders have blocked any overt challenge of the rescue from reaching the floor.
But a rebellious group of GOP freshmen, led by Rep. Steve Stockman of Texas, planned to ask the House Republican caucus Thursday to endorse a bill that would cut off Mexico's credit line absent congressional approval.
"This Congress is responsible to the American people, and we have been left out of the process," Stockman said.