Partisan Wrangling Delays Terrorism Bill : Senate: An angry Dole tells Democrats to shelve most of their amendments. Families of bomb victims urge lawmakers to curb Death Row appeals.

Families of Oklahoma City bombing victims fanned out across Capitol Hill on Monday as partisan wrangling between Senate leaders and President Clinton threatened proposed legislation that would bolster government power to investigate and prosecute terrorism.

The legislation, proposed by Clinton, is caught in a bind between Republican attempts to strip out many of its central provisions and add language severely limiting Death Row appeals and a subsequent move by Democrats to introduce a host of amendments.

Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) labeled the amendments “delaying tactics” and vowed to drop the bill if Democrats do not agree to shelve many of them. Even Clinton urged Democrats to limit their amendments.

“You can be sure terrorists around the world are not delaying their plans while we delay this bill,” Clinton said.

By the end of the day, the number of Democratic amendments had been whittled down to about 20 from 67.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), however, won support to restore a critical provision of the bill requiring manufacturers of most materials intended for use in making explosives to add identifying “tags” to their products. Those tags would help investigators identify the source of bomb-making material after an explosion.

Another section of the amendment would require the government to determine options for rendering ammonium nitrate inert. Ammonium nitrate is a fertilizer used to make the Oklahoma City bomb.

But even after Democrats scaled back their amendments, it remained unclear whether the effort would be enough to satisfy a testy Dole, who reminded Democrats Monday night: “This is a bill the President wants very much.”

GOP senators have sought to use the political opening brought about by the bombing to win support for changes in the Death Row appeals process. The families of the Oklahoma City bombing victims brought dramatic focus to that issue Monday.

“These people who did this do not deserve to live more than another day,” said Alice Maroney Dennison, whose father, a Secret Service agent, was among the 168 people killed in the April 19 attack. “But they have the opportunity to live 15 to 20 years. That is not fair.”

Diane Leonard--whose husband, also a Secret Service agent, was killed--told reporters: “Our pain and anger are great.” But, she said, “it would be even much, much greater if the perpetrators of this crime, if convicted, are allowed to sit on Death Row for many years.”

Dole said Monday that if limits to Death Row appeals, proposed by Republican Sens. Orrin G. Hatch of Utah and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, were adopted, those convicted of the Oklahoma City bombing could be put to death in a year.

Without the changes, he warned, the bombers could pursue “frivolous appeals” and put off the execution of their sentences for up to 15 years.

Clinton has promised to seek the death penalty for those found guilty of the bombing and has supported limits in Death Row appeals. But he has argued that such changes should come as part of a comprehensive crime bill package, not in his anti-terrorism bill.

Clinton’s bill calls for creating a domestic anti-terrorism center to be run by the FBI, the hiring of 1,000 new law enforcement personnel to work on terrorism cases and expansion of authority to deport or refuse entry to aliens with connections to alleged terrorist groups.

Republicans have their own version of the bill, which also would provide for additional law enforcement personnel. But the Republican version does not authorize other elements sought by Clinton, including expanded wiretapping authority in domestic terrorism cases, greater FBI access to consumer credit and hotel records and authorization for the military to provide technical assistance in cases involving terrorist use of chemical or biological weapons.

The Republican substitute, however, includes limits on federal Death Row appeals.

Feinstein’s amendment won broad support Monday night after she dropped a requirement that manufacturers add the identifying traces to smokeless or black powder, a gunpowder used to propel bullets in most conventional firearms. The National Rifle Assn. had objected to including the traces, and removal of the requirement cleared the way for swift passage.