Senate Democrats held ranks on a Whitewater filibuster Tuesday as Republicans looked for a way to keep their congressional investigation of President and Mrs. Clinton alive.
On a straight party-line vote of 53-47, the Senate failed to pass a measure bringing to a vote a bill to extend the Whitewater hearings indefinitely. Republicans needed 60 votes to end the filibuster, which began last week."What is the White House afraid of?" asked Sen. Alfonse D'Amato, R-N.Y., who chaired the Senate Special Committee on Whitewater. He said the "silly stonewalling" on Whitewater is "wrong and does not bring credit on this body."
But Democrats said the Senate Whitewater probe had lasted long enough. Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., noted that Democrats had agreed to the hearings in 1995, but that extending them would amount to a costly waste. He said they have failed to show "illegal or unethical behavior" by the Clintons.
D'Amato predicted a series of similar votes in days to come and vowed to keep Whitewater alive on the Senate floor.
On Tuesday Republicans offered a deal to end the hearings in four months. But Democrats said that would take the probe too deep into the political season and stuck with their original offer of ending the committee in early April.
The committee, which began hearings in July, was charged with probing the death of White House lawyer Vincent Foster, whether the White House unduly pressured federal regulators looking into Arkansas land deals by Clinton friends and whether the Clintons were involved in illegal or unethical business practices in Arkansas.
The committee's term expired at the end of February.
Republicans argued that the White House stonewalled from the start, withholding key documents including notes of White House insiders and Mrs. Clinton's legal records.
The White House still hasn't turned over some documents, including electronic mail that might show if a coverup took place within the administration, D'Amato said.