Senate OKs Drug Bill; No Death Penalty

The Senate, struggling to strike a compromise that would enable broad anti-drug legislation to pass both houses of Congress, Wednesday stripped the bill of a controversial provision allowing the death penalty for some drug-related crimes and substituted mandatory life sentencing. The measure then passed on a voice vote.

The prospects for ultimate enactment of the bill, which has been transformed several times in the last few weeks, are uncertain. House leaders previously had said that the bill could not pass in that chamber unless it included the death penalty. But the weakened bill might win enough votes if House members see it as the only means of enacting an anti-drug law before Congress adjourns for the year.

“We are so close, I can’t believe we can’t work this thing out,” said Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Failure to Stop Filibuster

The modified bill passed after an earlier vote made it clear that the death penalty provision could not survive in the Senate. That indication came when capital punishment supporters, their numbers weakened by absentees, fell two votes short of the three-fifths majority needed to choke off a filibuster by senators who wanted to remove the death penalty provision from the bill. The vote was 58 to 32.

With Congress expecting to adjourn by the end of this week, a time-consuming filibuster probably would have had the effect of killing the drug bill.

In a year that has otherwise lacked strong national political themes, the $1.7-billion drug bill has become one of Capitol Hill’s top political priorities.

Government studies show that overall drug use has leveled off over the last few years, but public concern about narcotics has intensified with the cocaine-related deaths of prominent athletes Len Bias and Don Rogers, as well as with the availability of dangerous drugs like the cocaine derivative known as “crack.”

Stiffer Penalties

The bill seeks to address the problem by stiffening penalties for drug crimes, beefing up law enforcement and investing hundreds of millions of government dollars in drug education and treatment programs.

The capital punishment provision would have allowed the death sentence for big-league drug traffickers, or “kingpins,” for cases in which their activities were directly linked to a murder. The version passed by the Senate would punish the same crimes with mandatory life imprisonment, allowing no parole or probation.

Both houses earlier had agreed to mandatory life sentences for several other drug-related crimes, including second offenses for selling narcotics to children and habitual criminal activity.

Biden argued that mandatory life sentences could have the “same effect” as the death penalty: “The so-called kingpins will be off the street, with no way to get back on the street.”

But Rep. George W. Gekas (R-Pa.), who led the House fight for the provision, said that any bill without the threat of a death penalty would amount to “a useless gesture . . . simply throwing money at the problem, which Congress usually reverts to in times of crisis.” The death penalty amendment had passed the House twice, each time with broad bipartisan support.

Milder Than Original

As it has bounced between the House and Senate, the bill has become much milder than the measure initially approved by the heavily Democratic House.

Among the House-passed amendments that have been discarded under pressure from the Senate are provisions that would have ordered the military to chase and arrest drug smugglers and that would have allowed courts to use illegally obtained evidence under some circumstances.

“The House obviously was thundering toward a bill that had all sorts of major (civil liberties) problems,” said Sen. Daniel J. Evans (R-Wash.), a leader of the assault against the capital punishment provision.

One reason the House has pushed harder to address a perceived public outcry for dramatic action against drugs is that all of its 435 seats are on the ballot in November. Only a third of the Senate’s membership is up for election.

The rush to pass the drug legislation had some lawmakers reversing positions they have traditionally held on the death penalty.

Cranston Position

For example, California Sen. Alan Cranston, a Democrat who generally has opposed capital punishment, sided with those who sought to cut off debate before the death penalty provision had been stripped from the bill. A spokesman said that Cranston, who is in a battle for reelection, believed that “the drug bill is an important bill and should be brought to a vote,” even though it contained the capital punishment provision.

The outcome on the death penalty could have been changed by the fact that senators--particularly those who want to remain in their home states to wage tough reelection fights--have been failing to show up for votes in the waning days of the session. Among the absentees Wednesday were at least three senators who previously supported capital punishment.