Dole Plans Senate Action in June on Budget Amendment

Eager to score a political point against President Clinton before leaving office, Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole said Friday he will bring the balanced-budget constitutional amendment to the Senate floor in early June.

The Kansas Republican, his party’s all-but-certain presidential nominee, acknowledged that the proposal would probably be defeated by a narrow margin, as it was in January 1995.

“I have no illusions about the outcome,” Dole said.

He also predicted that the Senate will join the House in approving the first minimum-wage increase in seven years and indicated he might schedule a vote on the issue shortly after the Senate returns June 3 from its Memorial Day recess.

He also endorsed the raise, saying, “I think there should be an increase in the minimum wage.”

Dole’s statements on the minimum wage and the balanced-budget amendment came as he attempted to clear the decks for his planned resignation from the Senate by June 11 to campaign full time for the White House.

The balanced-budget amendment last year fell a vote short of the two-thirds majority. With 52 of the Senate’s 53 Republicans expected to support the amendment, 15 Democratic votes would be needed for the two-thirds margin.