LOTT TO BLOCK COLOMBIA, KOSOVO BILL

WASHINGTON -- Top House Republicans say a $9 billion package bearing
money for U.S. action in Colombia and Kosovo is needed now. But in the
Senate, Majority Leader Trent Lott says the money can wait a couple of
months.

The House planned to debate the measure today, and members of both parties
predicted passage despite opposition by many conservatives who said it is
too expensive. The measure is nearly double the $5.2 billion President
Clinton requested.

"We consider this essential ... to the whole stability of our hemisphere,"
House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, said Tuesday of the $1.7 billion
the package contains to help the Colombian government battle drug
traffickers and strengthen its tenuous hold on the country.

Colombia provides most of the cocaine and heroin used in the United States,
U.S. officials say.

If anything, the measure is expected to grow even larger. Pro-defense
lawmakers, backed by House GOP leaders, were planning to try adding $4
billion in extra spending for the Pentagon.

In the Senate, however, Lott said he would to try to block the legislation,
dampening prospects that Congress will provide the money quickly.

He said he wants to provide money for Colombia, U.S. peacekeeping troops in
Kosovo, and aid to East Coast victims of last fall's Hurricane Floyd. But
he said he would take that money, shrink the rest of the legislation and
include what is left in regular spending bills for fiscal 2001, which
begins Oct. 1.

Congress will probably work on those bills into the fall. But Lott said he
hopes the money can be provided in one of them and approved within the next
two months.

Lott said the bill has become "bloated," adding, "I don't think we should
begin the year in that way."

No sooner had Lott spoken, however, when the Clinton administration and
members of the Senate Appropriations Committee began pressuring him to
relent.

White House budget chief Jack Lew wrote congressional leaders that the bill
is "time-sensitive." He warned that without quick approval, the Pentagon
would have to curtail training and maintenance, and victims of Hurricane
Floyd "may have to spend a second winter in temporary shelters."

(bold)Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, said
he would try pushing his version of the $9 billion bill through his panel
next Tuesday, despite Lott's remarks. Stevens, who met later with Lott,
said he "didn't ask" whether Lott would allow the bill to come to the
Senate floor.

(/bold)

The House bill would provide the $2 billion the president wants for U.S.
troops in Kosovo, and nearly twice the $1.1 billion Clinton requested for
Hurricane Floyd and other domestic natural disasters.

It also has far more for farmers, the Defense Department and other items
than Clinton requested.

Meanwhile, Clinton asked Congress on Tuesday to add $253 million more to
the package. The money would be for people who contracted the HIV virus
through blood transfusions, summer jobs for teenagers, administrative costs
of legislation that lets many elderly people keep their full Social
Security benefits and other items.

Most of the overall bill would be paid for from the budget surplus. Clinton
proposed paying for the new $253 million from unused federal spending,
including money for the Y2K computer problem.