TV T T^V r Wednesday, March 1, 1995 Page 2 Republicans delay balanced-budget vote WASHINGTON — In an at mosphere of excruciating tension, Senate Republicans took an over night delay Tuesday for a vote on the balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution. With Demo cratic Sen. Kent Conrad of North Dakota at the center of negotia tions, Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole sought the delay until Wednesday morning. He ac knowledged the amendment could fail to win the necessary two thirds majority needed to send it to the states. “This is a sad spectacle,” said the principle foe of the amend ment, Democrat Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia. “This has every appearance of a sleazy tawdry effort to win a victory at the cost of amending the Constitution.” The centerpiece of the Repub lican revolution in Congress, the proposed amendment to the Con stitution is designed to end the run-up in federal debt that ex ceeds $4.8 trillion. It calls for a balanced budget by 2002 and re quires a three-fifths vote of both houses to run a deficit in future years. A similar measure cleared the GOP-controlled House in January. Senate passage would mean the House would have to vote on the newly modified ver sion before submitting it to the states for ratification. At the White House, President Clinton renewed his objections. Pressed on whether Clinton would campaign to defeat ratification in the states, press secretary Mike McCurry said the president would make sure state legislators “have the information they need to j udge the merits.” Beyond its politically potent symbolic value — polls show 70 percent public support — Repub licans said the measure would enforce discipline. “If we don’t pass this amendment, we don’t balance the budget,” said GOP Whip Trent Lott of Mississippi. “This is it.” Democratic foes said it would lead to devastating spending cuts in social programs, permit Social Security trust-fund money to be used for deficit reduction and cripple efforts to soften the im pact of future recessions. Democrat Sen. Dale Bumpers of Arkansas said in a rising voice, “I pity an unsuspecting nation if we vote yes.” As if to remind opponents of the potential consequences, the 11 newly elected GOP senators whose victories created a new Republican majority sat together on the Senate floor. Said Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, at 36 the youngest among them, “The people who will stand in the way of this balanced-budget amend ment today will not be around long to stand in the way the next time.” In a series of votes leading to a final roll call, Republicans turned aside numerous proposed Demo cratic changes. One, by Sen. Ed ward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., would have banned a president from impounding funds to enforce the amendment. Privately, some Democrats worried the measure would fail by a single vote, exposing all sena tors to a campaign charge that they were responsible for the death of the politically popular provision. Still, Republicans had their own holdout, five-term Mark Hatfield of Oregon. He cited “en during protections of the Consti tution” in reaffirming his opposi tion. Series of abortion clinic fires in California maybe connected SAN FRANCISCO — An arson ist scorched an abortion clinic Tues day in the fifth such attack in Cali fornia in less than three weeks. Fed eral investigators say the blazes may be linked. The FBI was trying to determine if Tuesday’s blaze was part of a national conspiracy against abor tion providers, spokesman Rick Smith in San Francisco said. The string of arson fires has moved northward along the coast, hitting clinics in Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Santa Cruz and now San Francisco. No one has been injured. The first two attacks involved flammable liquids placed in auto mobile tires, and were almost defi nitely linked, said Larry Comelison of the Alcohol, Tobacco and Fire arms bureau in Los Angeles. That method was also used in the latest fire, Fire Department arson investigator A1 Silvestri said. The target was the Pregnancy Consultation Center, which offers abortions and other reproductive health services. Mayor Frank Jordan, who called his city “an island of sanity” in the abortion battle, said that city would . ••••• .. •.