House-Senate Accord Uncertain on Measure for Drug Crackdown
Differences between the House and Senate versions of drug law enforcement measures, including use of the death penalty, may keep either bill from passing despite election-year enthusiasm, Senate Minority Leader Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.) said Monday.
He said that several issues “are going to be very contentious” when both sides meet in a conference committee to try to forge a compromise before Congress adjourns.
Byrd said that “it remains to be seen” if a compromise drug bill can be passed. “Any of those contentious issues could prove an obstacle to passage.”
House Majority Leader Jim Wright (D-Tex.), who met Monday with Byrd and others to discuss a compromise, said: “We’re going to pass a bill of one kind or another in the House, and we hope the Senate will agree.”
The House on Sept. 11 passed a three-year, $6-billion plan loaded with controversial amendments that critics say are constitutionally flawed.
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