Congress Override Likely on China Student Bill Veto

Congress will override President Bush’s veto of a bill protecting visiting Chinese students in “a dazzler” of one-sided sentiment, the chief Republican Senate vote-counter predicted today.

The first showdown of the newly convened 1990 Congress will come Wednesday in the House, where Republicans have already conceded that they will not muster more than a handful of votes to support Bush’s position.

The Administration has concentrated its lobbying efforts on the Senate, hoping to get the 34 votes there that would be needed to stave off a two-thirds majority vote to override. But Alan K. Simpson (R-Wyo.), who is supporting Bush, said the President won’t get five votes.

“This thing is going to be overridden, and it will be a dazzler,” he said.

Bush on Nov. 30 vetoed the bill, which would allow as many as 32,000 eligible Chinese students to extend their stays in the United States and avoid persecution in their homeland stemming from last June’s government crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators.

The President says he has effectively taken the same action as the bill--by executive order--and that the legislation amounts to unwarranted congressional meddling.

Bush spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said today that, despite the clear indications of a White House loss, “we’re working to sustain the veto.”

Simpson, while conceding defeat, criticized Democrats for using the issue as “a blunt cudgel” to inflict political damage on Bush.

“Does anyone in the Congress really, truly believe . . . that the President will require students to return home to face persecution? Come on. For heaven’s sake.”