House-Senate Accord Uncertain on Measure for Drug Crackdown
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WASHINGTON — 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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