Impeachment Case Further Tries Congressional Kinship

With GOP congressional leaders at odds over how to handle the impeachment of President Clinton, the scramble to direct the momentous process is reopening bitter divisions that have riven House and Senate Republicans for years.

Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) is floating a plan for expediting the impeachment process that could kill the charges against Clinton in a matter of days. House impeachment leaders are fighting back, demanding more time to present their case for convicting Clinton.

It is hardly the first time the GOP majorities of the two chambers have been at loggerheads. For political, institutional and sometimes personal reasons, the House and Senate GOP have a long history of putting their similarities aside and finding reasons to fight. A frequent bone of contention is the Senate’s tendency to deep-six or downplay initiatives drawn up by the House’s hard-charging conservatives.

House Republicans fumed last year, when Lott refused to even schedule a vote on a tax cut they considered the cornerstone of their campaign platform for 1998. The year before, they saw red when Senate Republicans tried to block a cost-of-living increase for members of Congress. And during their first year of controlling Congress, in 1995, House conservatives seethed as one item after another from their revered “contract with America” seemed to disappear into the black hole of the Senate.

Of course, similar institutional animosities sometimes hobbled Democrats when they controlled both chambers. But with Congress now debating whether to remove a president from office for only the second time in the nation’s history, the stakes are significantly higher and the conflicts far more visible.

Whatever the outcome, the process seems destined to heighten the tensions that make it surprisingly difficult for the GOP to seem in command of Capitol Hill.

“Behind [House Judiciary Committee Chairman] Henry Hyde stands an extremely passionate Republican conference, that for the most part was really enthusiastic about pressing ahead on the impeachment,” said Ross Baker, a political scientist and author of “House and Senate.” “It is very hard for Trent Lott to be a range boss. He’s more nearly a shepherd.”

For now, the infighting is taking place mostly in phone calls and media interviews, because most members of Congress are scattered across the country. The matter will come to a head this week, when the new Congress convenes: The Senate’s first task will be to decide how to handle the two articles of impeachment arising from Clinton’s affair with Monica S. Lewinsky.

Already, there are signs that the jockeying over procedure is creating tensions within the GOP and between the chambers. Some senators, mostly conservatives, have complained about the proposal to truncate the Senate trial that is being floated by Lott and Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.).

Conservatives have complained that the proposal would deprive senators of the chance to fully review the evidence and make a considered judgment.

Hyde, of Illinois, offered the most pointed critique in a letter to Lott last week, demanding more time to present witnesses and fully air the case. “We need not sacrifice substance and duty for speed,” Hyde wrote.

Although GOP senators have muted their resentment of such advice, Senate Democrats on Sunday responded harshly.

“The Senate must be the custodian of its own procedures, and we don’t need a back-seat driver at this point,” Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) said on CBS-TV’s “Face the Nation.”

On the same program, Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) added: “The House of Representatives is making a terrible mistake in trying to tell the Senate how to do its business.”

Rep. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), a House Judiciary Committee member, fired back, suggesting that senators are being “so cavalier about this,” and that history may not “judge the Senate well” if it does not conduct a full trial.

The differences between the chambers is in part a reflection of their different functions in the impeachment process. Prosecutors, typically, like to prosecute. Juries like to dispose.

But divergent political interests and institutional perspectives also create tension.

Politically, senators come from broader, more diverse electorates than House Republicans, who tend to represent safe, consistently conservative districts. That makes senators less inclined to jump on conservative causes, like the contract with America’s plans to impose congressional term limits, curb regulations and abolish the Department of Education.

Impeachment is a more politically risky venture for many senators up for reelection next year. Among those who have indicated support for abbreviating the trial are conservatives John Ashcroft (R-Mo.) and Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), who are up for reelection in politically competitive states.

For Republicans like them, there is a powerful incentive to move beyond the unpopular impeachment process and to develop an agenda that will help them retain their seats.

But if the Senate brushes the impeachment charges aside, it could be a political blow to House Republicans from swing districts, for whom the impeachment vote was a difficult one.

“You can’t ask 20 or 30 Republicans to make very tough votes and then say, ‘It’s not a big deal, we’ll do it in two days,’ ” said GOP pollster Bill McInturff. “On the other hand, if you don’t have the two-thirds vote and you’re not going to introduce any new evidence, what exact benefit or purpose would it serve to spend two or five or eight weeks on a trial?”

Institutional differences also figure in the tug of war between the chambers. Senators are notoriously jealous of their prerogatives, and they often seem to look down on House members. The class struggle often erupts during debates about congressional pay raises, with the generally wealthier senators turning down increases and making it politically more difficult for House members to accept them.

Signs of institutional tensions are surfacing in the impeachment debate. Senate sources from both sides of the aisle are suggesting that the House managers are acting like camera hogs by demanding a longer presentation.

“All the House members want to be able to have their day of glory,” said Senate Minority Whip Harry Reid (D-Nev.). “It’s their only chance to be seen on TV.”

Juggling these competing interests is part of why the impeachment trial will sorely tax Lott’s ability to keep his party together.

“This is Trent Lott’s big test. This is a test of his leadership,” said Baker, the political scientist.

“But as always is the case in the Senate, it is a test of followership--of senators’ willingness to get behind their leaders.”

Times staff writer Edwin Chen contributed to this story.