Bipartisanship Goal in Senate Foreign Agenda

Seized by the spirit of bipartisanship for which President Bush appealed on Inauguration Day, Senate Democrats and Republicans on Wednesday laid out similar legislative agendas and pledged to end the constant bickering over foreign policy that has characterized their relations with the White House over the last eight years.

“We are here to make a new start,” declared Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell (D-Me.) in a floor speech. “In his inaugural address, the President put his hand out to me and to the Speaker of the House. I now extend mine to him.”

Cabinet Members Confirmed

Mitchell’s words opened the first full day of Senate business--a day devoted to long speeches, an avalanche of new legislation and roll call votes confirming three Bush Cabinet appointees: Secretary of State James A. Baker III, Secretary of Labor Elizabeth Hanford Dole and Budget Director Richard G. Darman.

During the 101st Congress, Mitchell said, the Democratic majority is committed to enacting legislation that would provide better housing, child care and health care; fully fund existing anti-drug legislation; improve air quality; increase the minimum wage; reform campaign financing; establish a system of national voluntary service and set new ethical standards for people who serve in government.

Responding for the GOP, Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) listed many of the same goals, though he acknowledged that his party has different ideas of how these objectives should be achieved. He also noted that Republicans are awaiting Bush’s legislative plan, which he is expected to outline in a speech to Congress Feb. 9.

Barely mentioned in any of these speeches was what most members of Congress view as the nation’s most pressing problem--the deficit. Both Democrats and Republicans will wait for Bush’s long-promised proposal for cutting the deficit without raising taxes.

The Democrats introduced their proposal for voluntary service, a sweeping plan for a “citizens corps” that would work to combat such national problems as illiteracy, homelessness and crime in return for cash vouchers that could be used for education expense or a down payment on a home. Described by its sponsors as an updated version of the GI Bill of Rights, young Americans who volunteered for the program would choose either civilian or military service.

The strongest theme running through the remarks of both Mitchell and Dole was their common desire to develop a bipartisan foreign policy with Bush instead of constantly battling the White House, as they did during the Ronald Reagan presidency. The tension between Congress and the President over foreign policy reached a peak with the disclosure of the Iran-Contra scandal, which many Reagan Administration officials sought to hide from the lawmakers.

War Powers Dispute

Both party leaders expressed a desire to revise the controversial 1973 War Powers Resolution, which restricts the President from placing American troops in “imminent hostilities” for more than 90 days without the consent of Congress. No President has ever willingly complied with the law, which inevitably precipitates a battle between Congress and the White House whenever U.S. forces come under hostile fire.

“Overcoming this stalemate should be a high priority for both Congress and the executive,” Mitchell said. “Enacting any change in the law will encounter strongly held and conflicting views. But the effort should be made (and) . . . I believe a constitutionally sound compromise is possible.”

Dole concurred. “The time has come to re-examine the war powers resolution,,” he said, adding that the Administration already has expressed “considerable concern” about it.

Nevertheless, Mitchell warned that while the Democratic majority in Congress wants to be cooperative with Bush on foreign policy initiatives, it will continue to insist on being a full partner with the President in shaping policy and deciding where force is necessary.

Byrd Reintroduces Bill

Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.) reintroduced a Democratic measure first offered last year that would require consultation between the President and Congress.

Among the most urgent foreign policy issues facing Congress is the spread of chemical warfare throughout the world. Both Sens. Dole and Claiborne Pell (D-R.I.) said that they would introduce differing bills designed to curtail the manufacture of chemical weapons.

On social programs, Mitchell--keying off Bush’s pledge to bring about a “kinder, gentler America”--declared that the nation and the government are entering a new era. “The New Deal and the Reagan reaction to it are over,” he said.

As Mitchell spoke, Democratic senators reintroduced much of the social legislation that was left on the calendar when the 100th Congress adjourned, including a bill by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) to raise the minimum wage to $4.65 an hour and another measure by Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) to provide subsidized day care--two pieces of legislation that the party leadership intends to push this year.

Although Dole also mentioned raising the minimum wage, Republicans are expected to insist on a sub-minimum wage for teen-agers as well, which Democrats oppose. Likewise, two Republicans--Sens. Pete Wilson of California and Pete V. Domenici of New Mexico--offered alternative legislation to Dodd’s child-care bill, which they estimated would cost $10 billion.