Bitter Debate Results in a House Divided : Congress: Democrats accuse each other of selling out, intimidation. The rancor takes away from Clinton’s victory.

After lawmakers finally cast their votes on the North American Free Trade Agreement Wednesday night, few Democrats were in a mood to rejoice over their President’s come-from-behind victory.

The vote marked only the second time since Bill Clinton became President that House Democrats and Republicans united in any meaningful way on a controversial issue. And while that might otherwise have been cause for celebration and self-congratulation, the bitterness that had arisen over the issue of free trade with Mexico dampened the atmosphere for almost everyone.

“If this is bipartisanship, I want partisanship,” Rep. Pat Williams (D-Mont.), a foe of the agreement, lamented during the debate. “I want Bob Dole in one corner and Bill Clinton in the other.”

The fault line extended even into the Democratic leadership: Speaker Thomas S. Foley (D-Wash.), a supporter, found himself on the opposite side from his two top lieutenants, Majority Leader Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri and Democratic Whip David E. Bonior of Michigan.

There were deep and emotional divisions among the Republicans as well, but the stakes were not as high--for even though the idea of the pact was born under a Republican Administration, the President whose future is linked to its success is a Democrat.

Among Democrats, the rancor was so intense that opponents repeatedly accused their colleagues--their allies in virtually every other vote this year--of selling out their principles for a pork-barrel project, a break for one industry or another or even help from the White House with their reelection campaigns.

“One month before Christmas, it’s NAFTA Claus time at the White House,” Bonior said. “They’ve got a deal for sugar, for citrus, for vegetables, for peanuts, for planes, for a bank and $17 million in tax forgiveness for Honda Motor Co.”

“Keep your eyes open,” Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) told reporters. “People are talking ambassadorships, judgeships, etc.”

But supporters of the agreement said that the late holdouts were merely doing what they had been elected to do--watching out for the interests of their constituents.

“It’s absurd and it’s ludicrous and it’s insulting,” Rep. Mel Reynolds (D-Ill.) said when asked whether his vote for the agreement had been influenced by offers of fund-raising help by the Administration.

The heavy-handed tactics, he said, had come from the other side, where labor unions had engaged in “threats to defeat me at the polls and acts of intimidation.”

Yet other lawmakers openly acknowledged that Clinton had won their votes only after they received specific concessions--some of which had little relation to international trade. Rep. E. Clay Shaw Jr. (R-Fla.), for instance, said that he agreed to support the accord only after Mexican Atty. Gen. Jorge Carpizo personally assured that a Mexican man accused of abducting and raping a 4-year-old girl in Riverside County would be extradited.

“For all the members I have talked to who were holding out their hands, there were 10 who were searching their hearts,” Rep. Jim McCrery (R-La.) said.

Others said they found it ironic that none of these concerns had been raised when Clinton was striking similar bargains to win votes for his economic program.

“It’s close to amusing to hear some of the righteous indignation coming out of the NAFTA opponents, when they were part of the same type of effort two months ago,” said Rep. Pete Geren (D-Tex.), who had opposed the Administration’s economic program but supported Clinton on the trade pact.

Democrats on both sides vowed that this week’s differences would be put aside in the upcoming battles on such crucial issues as health care reform.

But Republicans, whose opinions have been ignored by the Democratic majority on every other issue this year except aid for Russia, said they hope that the trade vote might be a model for a new kind of cooperation between factions of the two parties.

“What we’ve done is build the mechanism for bipartisanship,” Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.) said. “The trust has been built.”