GOP Slams Door On Gore
The Senate voted Wednesday to prevent people found to have violated laws protecting abortion clinics from escaping fines or civil judgments against them.
Republicans abandoned their vigorous opposition to the Democratic proposal after Democrats summoned Vice President Al Gore from the presidential campaign trail to break a possible tie vote. But the 80-17 roll call denied Gore a chance to vote on the measure as president of the Senate, as well as a needed opportunity to reaffirm his pro-choice credentials.
Former Sen. Bill Bradley, opposing Gore for the Democratic presidential nomination, has questioned Gore's commitment to protecting abortion rights, citing Gore's votes as a House member nearly 20 years ago.
"With this amendment, nobody will be able to politically demagogue this issue," Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said shortly before the vote.
Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, called Gore's rush back to Washington "theater," adding, "the vice president's going to need it" to win election in November.
Grassley's comments prompted Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., to say, "This issue is not about theater. It is about the very real issue of violence against women. ... We cannot allow violent extremists to use the bankruptcy code to carry out" their agenda.
"This issue is so important, I'm not going to take a chance of seeing it fail," Gore said just prior to the vote.
The amendment's sponsor, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., cited the case of Operation Rescue founder Randall Terry, who filed for bankruptcy court protection in November 1998, blaming heavy debts owed to women's groups and abortion clinics that have sued him.
Partisan fighting over abortion and guns has marked Senate debate on the legislation, which would make it tougher for people to sweep away their debts through bankruptcy.
Sen. Bob Smith, R-N.H., denounced Schumer's proposal Tuesday as an attempt "to silence the free speech of abortion opponents."
An amendment by Sens. Carl Levin, D-Mich., and Richard Durbin, D-Ill., that would prohibit gun makers and dealers from erasing debts in bankruptcies that arose from successful lawsuits against them also raised protests from conservative Republicans.
The proposal "is designed to encourage lawsuits ... and put the firearms industry in this country out of business," said Hatch.
Noting that some two-dozen U.S. cities and towns have sued gun makers and distributors, Levin said the firearms industry "should not be able to evade judgments by going bankrupt."
Also Tuesday, the Senate rebuffed an attempt by some Democrats to make it harder for high-interest, storefront lenders to collect debts from people who have filed for bankruptcy relief.
Senators voted, 53-44, to reject an amendment proposed by Sen. Paul Wellstone, D-Minn., that would have prohibited lending businsses charging more than 100 percent annual interest in recovering debts from consumers in bankruptcy proceedings.
A partisan dispute over a minimum-wage increase and tax breaks for small businesses, meanwhile, threatened to delay final Senate passage of the legislation to overhaul the bankruptcy laws.
Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., said a $1 increase in the $5.15 hourly minimum over three years was insufficient. In addition, the White House and Democratic lawmakers oppose $18.4 billion in small-business tax breaks proposed by the GOP that are tied to the minimum wage increase.
If changes are not made, Daschle told reporters, "I'm concerned that the bankruptcy bill could be in some jeopardy."
Voting against the abortion rights amendment were Republican Sens. Wayne Allard of Colorado, Sam Brownback and Pat Roberts of Kansas, Jim Bunning of Kentucky, Mike DeWine of Ohio, Michael Enzi of Wyoming, Phil Gramm of Texas, Rod Grams of Minnesota, Jesse Helms of North Carolina, Tim Hutchinson of Arkansas, Jon Kyl of Arizona, Richard Lugar of Indiana, Don Nickles of Oklahoma, Jeff Sessions of Alabama, Bob Smith of New Hampshire, Fred Thompson of Tennessee and George Voinovich of Ohio.
Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who is campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination, and Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., did not vote. Sen. Peter Fitzgerald, R-Ill., whose family owns a bank, recused himself by voting "present."