HOUSE WON'T REVISIT MEXICO DRUG ISSUE
Copyright (c) 1997, National Journal Inc.

In a victory for the White House and a setback for some
Republicans wanting a tougher response, House GOP leaders
Tuesday decided not to revisit President Clinton's
controversial decision to certify that Mexico had
cooperated fully in the war against drugs. "It's not
going to be brought up," House Majority Leader Armey said
after a House GOP leadership meeting. "There will be no
floor action." Armey said the 30day time limit Congress
had under the law to overturn Clinton's decision had
expired.

Asked what signal Mexico got from House passage of a
resolution overturning Clinton's certification unless
Mexico agreed to half a dozen tougher antidrug enforcement
measures and the Senate's passage of a softer resolution
leaving Clinton's certification intact, Armey said: "The
Mexicans must know that the House and the Senate are not
happy with the kind of effort they've been making" to
combat drug trafficking.

House International Relations Chairman Gilman, whose
committee approved a resolution overturning Clinton's
Mexico decision, told CongressDaily he was not consulted by
the leadership in the decision not to bring the
Senatepassed resolution to the House floor, and thus not
let it go to conference. "I regret that, but since the time
has gone by us, there is very little left to be done,"
Gilman said.

He said leaving the issue unresolved, with each chamber
having passed a different resolution, sends "too soft a
message and not the kind of message we would like to have
seen." House Chief Deputy Majority Whip Dennis Hastert,
RIll., acknowledged that the White House, which fought to
keep Congress from overturning Clinton's certification,
"might have won that battle (but) the war is yet to be
fought." He added he believes "we're better off with our
(Housepassed) legislation just sitting there as the
message" than with the language in the Senatepassed
resolution.