McKeon Gives Support to Clinton Plan : Politics: The Republican congressman from Santa Clarita joins a bipartisan effort to reform government.

In an unusual display of bipartisanship, Rep. Howard P. (Buck) McKeon (R-Santa Clarita), president of the Republican freshmen class, joined his Democratic counterpart and other colleagues Thursday to back the Clinton Administration’s bid to “reinvent government.”

The freshman initiative, which included a letter to Speaker Thomas S. Foley calling for congressional action this year, is the first time that the large Democratic and Republican freshmen classes have been able to combine forces.

“As members of a class that, more than any other in Congress, was elected to bring change to the way government operates, we support the President and vice president in their call for reform,” McKeon read from the letter to Foley. “But it is not enough for members of Congress to give lip service to this cause; we must take action.”

But only a day before the Capitol Hill news conference, McKeon had to deflect withering skepticism from some freshman Republicans who were privately leery of being associated with the Democratic Administration’s much-ballyhooed effort to cut down on government waste and inefficiency.

The proposal spearheaded by Vice President Al Gore is a set of more than 800 recommendations intended to streamline the sprawling federal bureaucracy, save $108 billion over five years and cut 252,000 federal jobs by 1998. Gore briefed the freshmen last month, prompting them to get together behind a plan that some senior lawmakers are expected to seek to undercut when it comes to reducing their pet projects, programs or departments.

Rep. Eva Clayton (D-N.C.), president of the Democratic freshmen class, acknowledged that the 69 Democratic newcomers and 48 GOP first-termers have many differences, but she said that they share a desire to “foster the same level of excellence in the public sector that we have come to expect in the private sector.” She and McKeon engaged in a symbolic handshake.

The letter to Foley as well as the comments at the news conference were quite general. The freshmen said they have formed a task force--chaired by Rep. Jane Harman (D-Marina del Rey) and Ken Calvert (R-Riverside)--to explore specific areas of possible agreement. Harman said the freshmen contacted members of Gore’s National Performance Review team that is drafting legislation to implement some of the proposals and were “met with overwhelming enthusiasm.”

Lamenting the inability of the freshmen class to find common ground sooner, McKeon asserted that the Democratic leadership “has kept us apart.” The Republican freshmen have been particularly aggressive in seeking reforms such as reducing or eliminating congressional committees, instituting term limits and adopting a balanced budget amendment.

Some of the philosophical differences that have kept the freshmen from crossing the aisle to work together were evident even as the joint push was officially kicked off. Rep. Carol Maloney (D-N.Y.) said her priority for governmental change was campaign finance reform, including public financing of congressional campaigns. The Republican freshmen have made campaign finance reform a priority but most find public financing anathema.

And not all the first-year Republicans were enthusiastic about getting behind the Administration’s push to reform government. At a weekly meeting of the GOP freshmen leadership this week, Reps. Donald Manzullo (R-Ill.) and Rep. Michael (Mac) Collins (R-Ga.) called Gore a proponent of big government and labeled his initiative “a farce.”

But McKeon and Rep. Michael Crapo (R-Ida.) responded that the proposal is an opportunity to work with Democrats in an area that has considerable salience with voters. McKeon said the class could support those elements of the plan that reduce government without necessarily accepting the entire package of changes. “At least it gives us a chance,” McKeon said.