Wine growers won concessions, along with people who rent out their homes for extra income, as the White House and Congress' Republican leaders engaged in a flurry of dealmaking to assure passage of a trade bill.
"It's been like `Let's Make a Deal' up here the last couple of days," said Ed McDonald, spokesman for Rep. Howard Coble, R-N.C.
At the center of the legislative marketplace was a bill to give President Clinton so-called "fast-track" negotiating authority to make trade deals that Congress could reject but could not change.
Clinton argued that he needs the authority to keep the United States a leader in the global economy. At a news conference late Thursday, he called the House vote important "for American leadership, for America's future," and added: "I'm trying to pull out all the stops."
Asked what the president would do to persuade lawmakers to pass the measure, White House spokesman Mike McCurry smiled and said, "Everything imaginable."
The House postponed Friday's scheduled vote on the legislation until the weekend when it may be taken up in a rare Saturday session.
Clinton's nemesis on the issue, House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, said, "I think it's a close vote, and I've always felt that."
Asked what Clinton would do if the bill failed, McCurry said, "We are not considering a fall-back position at this point."
The president on Wednesday promised up to $4 billion worth of new job training and other worker protection initiatives as an enticement to wary lawmakers. But strategists said the battle would be won or lost in one-on-one, retail politics in the House, where the vote was seen as closest.
Among the dealmaking topics: import protections for growers of peanuts, tomatoes and citrus; air pollution along the Mexican border; child labor laws; and wheat trade with Canada.
Coble, together with other lawmakers from North Carolina and Mississippi, won a concession for homeowners who rent out their houses to visitors during huge furniture shows at High Point, N.C., and Tupelo, Miss.
The law now allows people to earn tax-free rental income on their houses for up to 14 days a year. The original fast-track bill would have eliminated that tax break to finance the trade measure.
But the tax break was spared after Speaker Newt Gingrich received letters from Coble and a half-dozen colleagues. "This measure could be a determining factor in how some vote on the fast-track bill," they wrote.
The White House believes a concession to the wine industry provides necessary political cover for favorable voting decisions of at least 17 California House members from both parties.
The votes of a bloc of Florida lawmakers appeared to hinge on provisions affecting citrus and winter vegetables. Delegation members met with U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky this week, requesting protections that include country-of-origin labeling requirements for foreign produce.