Senate Votes to Lift Federal Furloughs; House OK Doubted

In a move that laid bare tensions within Republican congressional ranks, the Senate passed by voice vote Tuesday a bill to end the partial government shutdown while negotiations with the White House continue over plans to balance the budget in seven years.

But the bill faced an uncertain future in the House, where more-militant Republicans have refused to reopen the government unless there is a breakthrough in the broader budget talks.

“Enough is enough,” said Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.). “People have been gone from their jobs long enough.”

House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) did not dismiss the proposal out of hand but said he would have to discuss the matter with rank-and-file Republicans today, after they return from a Christmas week recess.

“Maybe we can get movement on the balanced budget and get the government back to work and paid for,” Gingrich said.

However, a top Gingrich aide gave a grim assessment of the prospects for reopening the government. “You’d never get the votes to pass it in the House,” said Gingrich spokesman Tony Blankley. “It’s not a serious initiative.”

Meanwhile, President Clinton invited congressional leaders to the Oval Office Tuesday night to engage in detailed negotiations over the budget balancing plans.

The evening session with Clinton, Gingrich, Dole and four other administration and congressional officials--a much smaller group than had been meeting in recent days--was described as the most concerted effort yet to come to terms on a seven-year balanced budget plan that all sides can accept.

The group moved from the Oval Office to the family residence for a dinner of soup and pasta with shrimp, and worked until 9:15, then adjourned for the evening.

“Our talks continue to make progress,” Vice President Al Gore said in a statement Tuesday night. He said the group intends to meet again at 1:30 p.m. today.

Pressure for a breakthrough mounted as the federal government entered the fourth month of the 1996 fiscal year without a final operating budget and the 18th day of a partial government shutdown that has placed some 280,000 employees on indefinite furlough.

In the absence of a broader budget accord, Dole pushed through the Senate a stopgap funding measure, known as a continuing resolution, to keep the government open until Jan. 12. It would provide funding for the many federal agencies that have not yet received their 1996 appropriations. Funding for the Departments of Commerce, Justice, State, and other major Cabinet departments lapsed Dec. 15, when the partial government shutdown began.

“I think we’ve made our point,” said Dole, who all along has been cool to the House GOP strategy of using the government shutdown to pressure Clinton into accepting their terms on a balanced-budget deal. “I know some of these good people who work for the government. They live from paycheck to paycheck. There aren’t too many wealthy people working for the government.”

Democrats hailed the move. “I want to compliment the Senate on voting to reopen the government for the next several days,” Clinton said before the evening budget talks. “I hope the House will follow suit.”

As a backup, the Senate also passed a more limited bill to ease the effects of the shutdown. It would send furloughed workers back to their jobs, but without pay and without funding for the affected agencies. So while workers could return to their desks, they could not spend any new federal money on the job. Attached to that bill were provisions to temporarily restore funding for programs that otherwise would be cut off, including Meals on Wheels for the elderly and some benefits for veterans, children, Native Americans and the unemployed.

A similar bill to send federal employees back to work without pay passed the House on Saturday, but it stalled in the Senate because it included provisions that Democrats said would unfairly limit their ability to debate and amend whatever balanced-budget agreement is reached by the White House and congressional leaders. Those limits were dropped from the back-to-work bill approved Tuesday by the Senate.

Both the continuing resolution and the limited back-to-work alternative were sent to the House for consideration today.

Dole said he thought Gingrich was “inclined to be receptive,” and he disputed press reports suggesting that this disagreement over the government shutdown indicated a rift within the GOP. But he acknowledged that “there are some House members who have a different view” that the shutdown is helpful in the GOP drive to get a balanced-budget agreement. “That’s not my view,” Dole said.

Dole said he hoped that the House GOP’s position might soften in the wake of their visits with constituents over the Christmas recess, when many heard complaints from federal workers because they were out of their jobs and from others because the federal employees will get paid eventually.

“I assume they’ve been listening out in the countryside,” Dole said. “The calls I get are saying, ‘Why are you paying people for not working?’ ”

Freshman Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) said he got a “mixed message” from his constituents. “I wouldn’t say it’s overly positive. There is a lot of exasperation, people saying, ‘What are you doing up there?’ But a majority of people say, ‘Stick to your guns and don’t back down.’ ”

Administration officials, meanwhile, warned of the increasingly broad effects of the partial government shutdown if the stalemate is not resolved within two weeks.

Social Security, Medicare and welfare benefits will continue to be paid, said Health and Human Services officials. Those benefits either come from trust funds or they received special appropriations from Congress.

However, money for the Meals on Wheels program for the elderly may run out in two weeks, they said, leaving states with the option of canceling the service or paying for it themselves.

And contractors who work with agencies, including those who process Medicare claims, will not be paid on time. Eventually, that could result in a loss of medical services at some facilities, they said.

“We are no longer paying contractors. At some point the contractors will not reimburse providers like Blue Cross. But I can’t give you an exact date” when patients may see the impact, said Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala.

In total, the federal government has about 2 million civilian employees. Most of them are working as usual. But about 760,000 of them are in agencies that lack funding.

Times staff writer David G. Savage contributed to this story.