National Journal articles from February 2000

National Journal archives from February 2000

CLINTON'S APPRENTICE: HOW MUCH DOES HONESTY MATTER?(Bill Clinton)
February 5, 2000... On the issues, Bill Bradley and Al Gore do not differ very dramatically. On the character front, however, they present a clear but complicated contrast: Gore's intelligence and energy are marred by a persistent habit of distorting the...

THOUSANDS OF CUBAN BOYS NOT ADMITTED TO U.S! FILM AT 11!
February 5, 2000... The Elian phenomenon has become so phenomenal as to be much more interesting than Elian himself. On CNN, during the blizzard that flattened the East Coast in January, weather updates alternated with Elian updates. Bulletin: Elian's grannies are...

Primary Numbers.
February 5, 2000... THE POLITICAL ESTABLISHMENT BET THE RANCH ON BUSH AND GORE, BUT ALL OF A SUDDEN THE ODDS AREN'T QUITE AS GOOD. On the Friday before the New Hampshire primary, aides to Vice President Al Gore dialed 911 to the Capitol Hill offices of House...

A Congress Divided.
February 5, 2000... NATIONAL JOURNAL'S CONGRESSIONAL VOTE RATINGS FOR 1999 SHOW THAT THE HOUSE AND SENATE WERE HIGHLY POLARIZED. Every year for the past 19 years, National Journal has analyzed the votes of House members and Senators. And every year, at least...

THE FRINGES.(Statistical Data Included)(Brief Article)
February 5, 2000... These are the 20 most-liberal Senators and 19 most-liberal House members (all Democrats), along with the 20 most-conservative Senators and 19 most-conservative House members (all Republicans), based on 1999 composite scores. ...

* HOW TO CALCULATE COMPOSITE SCORES.(Brief Article)
February 5, 2000... To determine a member's composite liberal score, first add the liberal scores in all three issue areas. Next, in each issue area, calculate 100 minus the member's conservative score and add the three results together. The two figures are then...

THE CENTRISTS.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
February 5, 2000... These are the 10 most-liberal Republicans and the 10 most-conservative Democrats in the Senate. along with tile 15 most-liberal Republicans and the 15 most-conservative Democrats in tile House. For each group, the first number indicates the...

HOW THE VOTE RATINGS ARE CALCULATED.(Brief Article)
February 5, 2000... A panel of National Journal editors and reporters initially compiled a list of 130 key congressional roll-call votes for 1999, 54 for the Senate and 76 for the House, and classified them as related to economic, social, or foreign policy....

KEY ROLL-CALL VOTES USED FOR THE RATINGS.
February 5, 2000... Here are the 50 Senate and 74 House votes on which National Journal's 1999 vote ratings are based. The Congressional Record roll-call number is followed by the bill number, a description of the vote, the date, the outcome, the prevailing...

SENATORS' RATINGS.(Statistical Data Included)
February 5, 2000... In the following list, Senators are assigned separate scores for their roll-call votes on key economic, social, and foreign policy-national security issues during 1999. The 100 Senators are rated in each of the three issue categories on both...

HOUSE MEMBERS' RATINGS.(Statistical Data Included)
February 5, 2000... In the following list, House members are assigned separate scores for their roll-call votes on key economic, social, and foreign policy-national security issues during 1999. The 435 members are rated in each of the three issue categories on...

A SATELLITE BILL, A CAREER IN ORBIT?
February 5, 2000... Last year, Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., was frustrated because the House had stalled on a telecommunications bill he had ushered through the Senate. So Burns walked from his groundfloor Senate office to the House side of the Capitol and sat down...

PIVOTAL EVENTS IN CONGRESS.(Brief Article)
February 5, 2000... JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 3 Senate OKs Bankruptcy Bill, Wage Hike The Senate with an 83-14 vote on Feb. 2 gave its long-awaited approval to legislation designed to reform the bankruptcy code and make it tougher for debtors to get out of...

HOUSE-SENATE COMMITTEE ACTION.
February 5, 2000... JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 3 OVERVIEW Congressional committees, which slogged through snow and ice to begin their bill writing for the year, presented an early Valentine to married couples and some legal bouquets to small businesses and...

Hill People.
February 5, 2000... House Former college instructor Bryan L. Goodman is the new communications director for Rep. Victor F. Snyder, D-Ark. Goodman, 26, who moved to Washington in January, has been teaching freshman English for the past year and a half at his...

REP. CAMPBELL IN THE SOUP.(Tom Campbell)(Brief Article)
February 5, 2000... REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--Inside his chief fund-raiser's home, on a hill that offers a spectacular view of San Francisco Bay, Rep. Tom Campbell and his staff are working to assemble what could be one of this year's most expensive and...

MAKING CRIME LESS PRIVATE.
February 5, 2000... Last June, Border Patrol agents in Texas picked up a 39-year-old drifter from Mexico named Rafael Resendez-Ramirez, conducted a database search on him to see if he had any outstanding warrants, and, finding none, sent him back to Mexico. ...

SPEND NOW, ASK QUESTIONS LATER.
February 5, 2000... Congressional Republicans and Democrats this election year will try to outdo each other in heaping money on the Pentagon. But their game of "Can You Top This?" avoids asking the hard and troubling questions about our national defense, including...

WATCH WHAT THEY DON'T DO.(World Trade Organization 2000 meeting)(Brief Article)
February 5, 2000... Any attempt this year by the Clinton Administration to obtain congressional approval of permanent normal trade relations (that's bureaucrat-speak for trade privileges that wouldn't have to be renewed by Capitol Hill every year) with China is a...

LIGHTS! CAMERA! ACTION! TORONTO! TORONTO?
February 5, 2000... If you bump into Rep. Gerald C. "Jerry" Weller, R-Ill., don't be surprised if he's wearing the shades and fedora popularized in The Blues Brothers movie, the 1980 comedy starring Dan Akroyd and the late John Belushi. Weller would do almost...

VAN SCOYOC TAKES ERNST & YOUNG TO COURT.(Brief Article)
February 5, 2000... It hasn't gotten much notice, but Van Scoyoc Associates, one of Washington's premier lobbying shops, has filed a $16 million lawsuit against Ernst & Young. Van Scoyoc claims that in 1998 the accounting giant used confidential information...

FROM THE K STREET CORRIDOR.(Brief Article)
February 5, 2000... Turkey Hires a Top Trio To bolster its image in Washington and to acquire more weapons, the government of Turkey is going to pay $1.8 million this year to a trio of former House members, led by former Appropriations Committee Chairman Bob...

TRANS-ATLANTIC CLOUT.(Brief Article)
February 5, 2000... Last year, top Washington law firms raided the government to find the best and the brightest in the Clinton Administration. Lobbying shops scrutinized the talent pool on Capitol Hill before drafting wunderkinds tight with the Republican...

People.
February 5, 2000... Interest Groups The conservative interest group Empower America has lined up a new president and CEO: James R. "J.T." Taylor, formerly vice president of corporate communications for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He will take over in early...

THE PASSING OF A STAR.
February 5, 2000... Democratic media consultant Robert D. Squier, who died on Jan. 24 at age 65 from colon cancer, loved to tell the story of how he was forced into the political consulting business. On Friday, March 29, 1968, Leonard Marks, President Johnson's...

Campaign Circuit.(Brief Article)
February 5, 2000... When the White House Calls... A failed promise from the 1992 Clinton-Gore campaign nearly triggered a public relations disaster for the Vice President in New Hampshire. Eight years ago, Al Gore vowed to block the operation of a...

Verbatim.(Brief Article)
February 5, 2000... Excerpts from John McCain's Feb. 1 speech following his triumph over George W. Bush in New Hampshire's Republican primary. McCain: My friends, last June I asked the people of New Hampshire to make room in this election and in our party for...

At the Races.(Statistical Data Included)
February 5, 2000... * Travel Log As the Bush camp spun New Hampshire as "a bump in the road," it was also quick to attribute John McCain's triumph in the Granite State to his extensive campaigning there. Bush, who spent 36 days in New Hampshire to McCain's...

SO MUCH FOR TAXES AS A LEADING CONCERN.
February 5, 2000... Let's begin with a three-question quiz. First question: Which party is dedicated to cutting taxes, the more the better? Answer: the Republican Party, naturally. Second question: Which state is known as the most vociferous anti-tax state in the...

Hotline Extra.
February 5, 2000... Take Nothing for Granite What does the future hold for Sen. John McCain? McCain's victory in New Hampshire "was the most lopsided win in the history of the New Hampshire primary, in a contested race." but it did "not necessarily make the...

THE POLITICS OF THE CALENDAR.(Brief Article)
February 5, 2000... MANCHESTER, N.H.--After traveling the same route through Iowa and New Hampshire, the Democratic and surviving Republican presidential candidates part company now as they follow very different election calendars. Democrats Al Gore and Bill...

Poll Track.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
February 5, 2000... * The Hot Question ELIAN'S FATE As the battle over custody of Elian Gonzalez intensifies, 54 percent of adults surveyed by Gallup said they opposed legislation that would grant Elian U.S. citizenship. But respondents are split over...

RIDING TO GEORGE W.'S RESCUE.(Brief Article)
February 5, 2000... Manchester, N.H.--What does the Republican Party do now? Sen. John McCain's breathtaking victory in New Hampshire presents the GOP establishment with a tough choice. They can abandon ship, now that George W. Bush's aura of invincibility is...

Let's Stay the Course.(education standards)
February 12, 2000... It's a shame to see opposition beginning to develop against two of the most important trends in education: higher academic standards and zero-tolerance policies. The higher academic standards that states are putting into place worry parents and...

THE DEATH PENALTY: TO ERR IS HUMAN.(moratorium by Gov. George Ryan of Illinois)
February 12, 2000... The death penalty is so politically correct these days that Hillary Rodham Clinton supports it. Her husband, the Democratic President, has championed curbs on death row appeals. So Illinois Gov. George Ryan's Jan. 31 moratorium on all...

PEACE IN NORTHERN IRELAND? NOT JUST YET.
February 12, 2000... Whenever President Clinton is asked to review the foreign-policy successes of his Administration, high on a fairly short list is "helping to bring peace to Northern Ireland." This week, it looked as though he was too quick to assume that peace...

Battle Stations.(challenge from Sen John McCain to Gove George W. Bush for Republican presidential nomination)
February 12, 2000... GOP INSIDERS WORRY THAT AS McCAIN'S STOCK RISES, THEIRS COULD FALL. AND THEY'RE NOT SITTING STILL. Three days after Sen. John McCain of Arizona captured the New Hampshire primary, one of his closest colleagues, Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas,...

THE MILITARY ON McCAIN: CHARY ADMIRATION.
February 12, 2000... Perhaps not since John F. Kennedy has a presidential candidate spoken as compellingly to the core values and aspirations of the U.S. military as John McCain. Certainly fellow Republicans Bob Dole and George Bush were genuine war heroes, but...

GRAHAM GETS A BOUNCE, TOO.(Rep Lindsey Graham's support for Sen John McCain)(Interview)
February 12, 2000... One recent winter day, Rep. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., was stuffed into a narrow seat on a filled-to-capacity airplane heading south from Washington. He was periodically coughing and sniffling and obviously feeling lousy. But he was as affable as...

A LONE FAN AT HERITAGE FOUNDATION.(Marshall Wittmann)(Brief Article)
February 12, 2000... Marshall Wittmann arrived at his devotion to John McCain's presidential candidacy by reading a book. He had been hired by the Heritage Foundation, the conventionally conservative Washington think tank, after an unconventional two-year stint as...

WHERE MCCAIN STANDS.(Brief Article)
February 12, 2000... AS A GOP MAVERICK... ABORTION John McCain has a strong anti-abortion voting record, but some recent comments have sparked controversy. When asked last month what he would do if his 15-year-old daughter became pregnant, he replied that...

ESTABLISHMENT? WHAT ESTABLISHMENT?
February 12, 2000... After John McCain handily defeated George W. Bush in the New Hampshire COP presidential primary, Bush began looking for salvation in the very institution that had made him the presumptive front-runner to begin with: the Republican Party...

Happy Hour.
February 12, 2000... FORGET THE BARROOM BRAWLS OF YESTERYEAR. THE NEW LEADERS OF THE BEER, SPIRITS, AND WINE ASSOCIATIONS WOULD RATHER SHAKE HANDS THAN THROW PUNCHES. For the better part of the 1990s, Jeffrey G. Becker, Daniel Bradford, and David K. Rehr...

Truck Stop.
February 12, 2000... WHY HASN'T THE U.S.-MEXICAN BORDER BEEN OPENED TO LONG-HAUL TRUCKS AS NAFTA INTENDED? In a speech on Dec. 4, 1995, Federico Pena, then the U.S. Secretary of Transportation, couldn't have been more emphatic: The United States was finally...

1.8 TRILLION REASONS FOR A FIGHT.
February 12, 2000... On Feb. 1, congressional leaders from both parties emerged from a White House meeting and said they and President Clinton were working from the same list of priorities. Everyone said they did not have the stomach--or the time--for yet another...

PIVOTAL EVENTS IN CONGRESS.(Brief Article)
February 12, 2000... Debate Begins on Budget, Tax Cuts Budget season officially began on Feb. 7, when President Clinton sent his fiscal 2001 spending blueprint to Capitol Hill and proponents and opponents immediately reverted to past partisan behavior....

CONGRESS DAILY'S FINAL WORD.(Brief Article)
February 12, 2000... "Trying to herd cats--that's my job. I'm trying to get 100 Senators... to head in one direction, and that's pretty hard to do because they get their tails in the air and take off in the direction they want to go, run for President or...

Hill People.(Brief Article)
February 12, 2000... Senate "You're put in a position of great responsibility at a relatively young age, and you really do get to influence the way policy is made," James J. Jochum says of the six years he spent working on Capitol Hill. Nevertheless, Jochum,...

Poll Track.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
February 12, 2000... * The Hot Question KEEP THE WINDOWS SHUT Almost haft of the public uses the Internet, but 57 percent of those surveyed in an ABC News poll aren't worried about technological invasions of their privacy. That percentage hasn't changed...

PAYING DOWN THE DEBT--ACCIDENTALLY.(national debt)
February 12, 2000... Washington is never without its share of irony. Or symmetry. So, when President Clinton this week presented to Congress the final budget of his eight years in the White House, he used a chart and a sky-blue paint pen to graphically demonstrate...

People.
February 12, 2000... Interest Groups The AARP is importing some fresh talent into its communications shop. Janet C. Lane, the group's new director of media relations, will take charge of national communication for the nation's largest seniors organization....

NO TEMPEST OVER THIS TRADE BILL.
February 12, 2000... Two months after a band of environmental and labor activists helped derail global trade talks in Seattle, a complex trade bill that would make it cheaper to import goods from the Caribbean Basin, Central America, and sub-Saharan Africa may have...

From the K Street Corridor.
February 12, 2000... Kantor's China Cause After building a lucrative practice helping U.S. corporations expand their business in China, former U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor is becoming a lobbyist. Kantor is helping two longtime clients, Aetna Life 8c...

EUROPE COULD USE SOME CAJUN WISDOM.
February 12, 2000... Joerg Haider, the Austrian provincial governor at the center of a political crisis in the European Union, uses the same anti-immigrant rhetoric that one can hear from elected officials in France, Germany, Italy, and other EU countries. He...

MIKE MOORE'S OFF TO A ROCKY START.(director-general of World Trade Organization)(Brief Article)
February 12, 2000... The new director-general of the World Trade Organization looked tired. And for good reason. Mike Moore had just come from a meeting with James D. Wolfensohn, the president of the World Bank. Next on his schedule was a speech to a roomful of...

Hotline Extra.
February 12, 2000... Moms Away While pundits were busy debating the merits of having George W. Bush's parents campaign in New Hampshire, former first lady Barbara Bush was busy taking to the stump in South Carolina. On a recent visit, she was introduced as...

ADDENDA.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
February 12, 2000... Here's a look at what's being emphasized ill candidate and issue ads running in South Carolina Ads on Health Care 6 Ads on Social Security 6 Ads on Military/Defense ...

At the Races.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
February 12, 2000... George W. Bush leads other presidential hopefuls in almost all campaign finance categories. Already, he has spent $37.3 million, nearing the $40 million-dollar limit the other candidates will be allowed to spend on their entire campaigns. Bush...

SPOT CHECK: AD OF THE WEEK.(Brief Article)
February 12, 2000... `Truth' National Smokers Alliance Produced by National Smokers Alliance 30 seconds Big tobacco has not shied away from putting its stamp on this presidential campaign. An ad running in South Carolina charges Sen. John McCain,...

SO MANY CLOSE RACES, SO LITTLE ATTENTION.
February 12, 2000... So much attention has focused on the fascinating presidential contests in both parties, the fight for control of the House, and the Hillary Rodham Clinton-Rudolph W. Giuliani Senate fight in New York that the 15 or so Senate races that are...

THE MAGINOT LINE LOOKED IMPREGNABLE, TOO.(Brief Article)
February 12, 2000... COLUMBIA, S.C.--Until recently George W. Bush and his advisers were talking about a "firewall" they had erected in South Carolina. If they were to feel a little heat in New Hampshire, they would win by a cool and comfortable margin here in...

A BOUNCE OFF THE RICHTER SCALE.(marked success for Sen John McCain in presidential primaries)
February 12, 2000... The McCain surge is having all kinds of strange effects on the campaign. In fact, both party establishments are in a panic over how to deal with it. Sen. John McCain of Arizona is pushing fellow Republican George W. Bush to the right,...

CORRECTION.(correction to article in Feb. 12, 2000 issue, p. 478)(Correction Notice)
February 19, 2000... A recent Congress section story (2/12/2000, p.478) misquoted Thomas S. Kahn, the Democratic staff director of the House Budget Committee. The quote should have read: "The Republican mantra for several years has been huge tax cuts. New Hampshire...

To Our Readers.
February 19, 2000... When we decided last summer to launch a new Web site, we had National Journal subscribers in mind. Two of our main goals were to create an online home for the publication and to greatly increase the value of a National Journal subscription. We...

A VOTE FOR GAY MARRIAGE--BUT NOT BY JUDICIAL FIAT.(ruling by Vermont State Supreme Court supporting same-sex marriage)
February 19, 2000... Vermont and its legislature are mired in furious debate over the state Supreme Court's ruling two months ago that the legislature must "extend to same-sex couples the common benefits and protections that flow from marriage under Vermont law,"...

THE NEW EUROPE: READY FOR EVERYTHING, EXCEPT DEMOCRACY.(treatment of Austria by European Union)
February 19, 2000... Christine Boutin, a conservative French parliamentarian, was in Washington last week, raising her visibility for a presidential bid in 2002. As it happened, l'affaire Haider had just burst into full, fetid bloom. Asked what she made of it,...

Market Forces.(electronic vs. traditional stock market)
February 19, 2000... THE ESTABLISHED STOCK EXCHANGES ARE SCRAMBLING TO SURVIVE NEW COMPETITION FROM ELECTRONIC UPSTARTS. HOW WILL CONGRESS AND THE SEC RESPOND? Traditions die hard at the New York Stock Exchange. On a recent winter's day, a guard refused to let...

Patching Up Sick Call.(reform to health care in US armed forces)
February 19, 2000... CONGRESS AND THE ADMINISTRATION BATTLE COSTS, DEMOGRAPHICS, AND ORGANIZED RETIREES AS THEY TRY TO REFORM MILITARY HEALTH CARE. Few issues in civilian life are more intractable, or more emotional, than balancing people's need for quality...

First, Do No Harm.(medical errors)
February 19, 2000... CONGRESS MIGHT WANT TO LOOK AT THE EXPERIENCE OF STATES BEFORE IT TRIES TO TACKLE THE PROBLEM OF MEDICAL ERRORS. Findings from the Institute of Medicine report are chilling: As many as 98,000 people a year are dying as a result of medical...

THE RETURN OF STENY HOYER.
February 19, 2000... The cinder-block walls made the room feel a bit claustrophobic, the gray cafeteria-style tables and chairs were less than comfortable, and the girlie swimsuit calendar on the far wall was a bit too conspicuous. But the local plumbers' union...

NO EASY PRESCRIPTION ON NO-NAME DRUGS.(law for generic medicine)
February 19, 2000... Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle and in both chambers are taking the first steps toward revising the 1984 law that established standards for the federal government's approval of generic drugs and its granting of patent extensions...

PIVOTAL EVENTS IN CONGRESS.
February 19, 2000... Business Wins One, Loses One in House The House on Feb. 16 approved legislation designed to shield small businesses from frivolous or unjustified civil lawsuits that could drive them into bankruptcy. The Small Business Liability Reform Act,...

HOUSE-SENATE COMMITTEE ACTION.
February 19, 2000... * OVERVIEW The House was home alone this week because the Senate took an early Presidents Day recess. House committees watched television, treated their grandparents with respect, and fought among themselves about how much their allowances...

Hot Bills.
February 19, 2000... Here is the status of major legislation on the congressional front burner: DIGITAL SIGNATURES House: Approved H.R. 1714 on Nov. 9, 1999, 356-66. Senate: Approved S. 761 on Nov. 19, 1999, by unanimous consent. Outlook:...

Hill People.
February 19, 2000... House "I'm trying to get as many hits as possible," said the versatile Michael Greenle, who has departed Capitol Hill to work for CTSG, an Internet and public affairs strategy company based in Eugene, Ore. He leaves the office of Rep. Jay...

CLINTON'S UNTILTING FEDERAL BENCH.(Pres Bill Clinton's appointment of federal judges)
February 19, 2000... Two years ago, the Free Congress Foundation, a conservative activist group led by Paul Weyrich, produced a fund-raising video lambasting President Clinton's "superactivist" federal judges. In a letter accompanying the video, conservative Robert...

The Cutting Edge.(jobs for absentee fathers)
February 19, 2000... Broken Families Aren't All the Same "Deadbeat dads"--the very term evokes opprobrium. The 20,000 state enforcers nationwide who hound absent fathers for child support may seize tax returns, yank driver's licenses, and take other punitive...

NOT A RADICAL IN THE BUNCH.(military policy of presidential candidates)
February 19, 2000... A President George W. Bush would boost military spending to a post-Cold War high of more than $300 billion annually, deploy national and battlefield missile defenses under a crash program, and prepare to fight in outer space. He would also...

CHINA AND TAIWAN, AT IT AGAIN.(military and diplomatic tensions)
February 19, 2000... Since the end of the Cold War, much of the world has changed dramatically. A key exception is Asia, where China and Taiwan continue to play dangerous military and diplomatic games. Over the next few months, issues involving Taiwan's...

The Hot Question.
February 19, 2000... HEALTH CARE QUALMS As Congress takes up the patients' bill of rights, a Health Benefits Coalition poll found that 51 percent of voters favor the Senate version of the bill, which would guarantee HMO patients a review within 10 days if they...

Poll Track.(Statistical Data Included)
February 19, 2000... Views on policy and politics * Leading Question THE RIGHT STUFF? Would Americans vote against John McCain because of his volatile temper? Or against George W. Bush because he flubbed a foreign affairs pop quiz? A survey by Opinion...

READY TO RUMBLE WITH THE RIGHT.
February 19, 2000... The 300 guests mingled in the Russell Senate Office Building's caucus room. They had come to welcome Ralph G. Neas as the new president of People for the American Way, the liberal advocacy group. "Old friends and a new team," said the...

FROM THE K STREET CORRIDOR.
February 19, 2000... Helping the Pharmaceutical Industry Former Sen. Dan Coats, R-Ind., has joined the huge fight over providing a prescription drug benefit for seniors. His client is the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. Coats, now with...

SECOND ACTS.(senators formerly associated with minor scandals)
February 19, 2000... Despite the media frenzy over Republican presidential candidate John McCain, former Sen. Dennis DeConcini, D-Ariz., usually dodges queries about his relationship with his former home-state colleague. "It is not that I have any fondness for...