National Journal articles from January 1999

National Journal archives from January 1999

THE `AGONY' OF FACING THE FACTS.
January 2, 1999... Much ink has been spilled about the felt need of all civilized people to avoid the "agony" of having (gasp!) witnesses testify about (eek!) facts in the well of the Senate. Hide in your homes! Lock up your children! Smash your TV sets! The...

I SING `THE BODY' ECLECTIC.(Jesse Ventura)
January 2, 1999... In some respects, Jesse Ventura is not your ordinary Governor. His inauguration Monday was attended by Arnold Schwarzenegger and about 700 journalists, and was carried live by four cable networks. Naturally, one wonders: Does the 37th Governor...

A Newer New Deal.(Statistical Data Included)
January 2, 1999... SIXTY-FIVE YEARS AFTER ITS BIRTH, SOCIAL SECURITY NEEDS A NEW LEASE ON LIFE. On a summer day in 1934, as the nation languished in the grip of the Great Depression, and socialists and populists proposed radical solutions to the nation's...

No Done Deal on the Hill.
January 2, 1999... SOCIAL SECURITY REFORM SEEMS A LONG SHOT IN THE 106TH CONGRESS, BUT SOME LAWMAKERS ARE HOLDING OUT HOPE. Forget about impeachment and a lame-duck President. Forget about the House Republican leadership meltdown, and the GOP's narrow...

Can Clinton Lead?(Bill Clinton)
January 2, 1999... THE PRESIDENT WILL NEED TO BE EQUAL PARTS TACTICIAN AND ALCHEMIST TO PULL OFF A DEAL. One month ago, Republican Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania was at the White House feeling a little frustrated. The occasion was a two-day White House...

The Playmakers.
January 2, 1999... The libertarian Cato Institute was pushing for privatization of Social Security when the mere thought was political heresy. Now that personal retirement accounts have gone main stream, Cato aims to turn its idea into law. The think tank has...

Another Looming Crisis.(Medicaid)
January 2, 1999... WHILE SOCIAL SECURITY GETS THE HEADLINES, MEDICAID FACES BIG PROBLEMS AS MORE AMERICANS ENTER NURSING HOMES AND THE BILLS FOR LONG-TERM CARE MOUNT. If those disturbing projections about Social Security give you pause, consider these...

The Web's Pornucopia.
January 2, 1999... HOW A BILL TO CURB ONLINE SMUT SPARKED QUIET OPPOSITION FROM MAINSTREAM BUSINESSES, THE WHITE HOUSE AND OTHERS WITH A STAKE IN AN UNFETTERED INTERNET. Only 15 pages long, the Child Online Protection Act seemed like a modest little bill....

THE TRIALS OF TRENT LOTT.
January 2, 1999... If there was any doubt that managing the Senate is a lot like herding cats, the events of the last few weeks have removed it. Try as he might to move his colleagues toward a consensus on procedures to govern the impeachment trial of President...

IN THE EYE OF THE HOUSE HURRICANE.
January 2, 1999... In the House this week, Newt Gingrich quickly became a faded memory. J. Dennis Hastert, his lower-than-low-key successor, took great pains to portray his speakership as a return to what congressional insiders call the "regular order." Over and...

People.
January 2, 1999... At the White House Lawrence J. Haas, who recently left his White House job as communications director to Vice President Al Gore, will soon be scaling the ivory tower. In a few weeks he'll head to New Haven, Conn., to become director of...

DON'T GIVE UP THE SHIP.(first)(second)(third)
January 2, 1999... The maritime industry is gearing up for a lobbying war on two fronts over a pair of more-than-75-year-old statutes that allow only U.S.-built,-owned, and -manned ships to carry goods or passengers from one American port to another. The...

From the K Street Corridor.
January 2, 1999... Verner, Liipfert's Smoke Signals Big Tobacco may be kicking the habit of paying those princely lobbying fees to Vetoer, Liipfert, Bernhard, McPherson and Hand--fees amounting, for instance, to $7 million in the first half of 1998....

THE TOMMY AWARDS.
January 2, 1999... New Deal brain truster Thomas "Tommy the Cork" Corcoran planned to get rich. "I'm getting out," he told a buddy back in 1941. "I want to make a million dollars in one year, that's all. Then I'm coming back to government for the rest of my...

THE 49-ACRE WAR.
January 2, 1999... The plot of ground under contention is only 49 acres of undeveloped land in a northeastern corner of Washington, D.C. The legislative language in dispute totals only three pages. Yet the ongoing lobbying battle over that land and that language...

LOOKING BEYOND THE EURO-BABBLE.
January 2, 1999... LONDON--In the wake of the Jan. 4 launch of the euro, Western Europe's new good-almost-anywhere currency, Euro-mania now inflames the public imagination here. Even though four European Union members (Britain among them) are sticking with their...

ELIZABETH DOLE'S PROMISE--AND PERIL.
January 2, 1999... Near the end of the 1996 presidential campaign, when Bill Clinton was cruising to re-election, more than a few Republicans wondered whether or not they'd picked the right Dole to top their ticket. "I've heard people say they wished she was the...

SPECIAL ELECTIONS, SPECIAL TIMES.
January 2, 1999... Two fascinating political years are in store once impeachment stops dominating the news. This year, attention will be split between the early maneuverings of 2000 presidential candidates and the preparation for a big fight for control of the...

Hotline Extra.
January 2, 1999... News Media Resolutions A new year always inspires the media to produce awards and recaps for the year gone by, and predictions for the one ahead. ABC's Nightline led the way with its usual group of crystal-ball analysts. Like most other...

THEIR TIMING COULD BE OFF--OR JUST RIGHT.(Republican presidential candidate nominations)
January 2, 1999... In the aftermath of the Watergate scandal, former Attorney General Elliot L. Richardson thought about seeking the Republican presidential nomination in 1976. But he was realistic enough to realize that he would encounter stiff resistance from...

CORRECTION.(Correction Notice)
January 2, 1999... The date of last month's White House conference on Social security was incorrectly reported in a recent story (12/19&26/98, p. 3018). The meeting took place on Dec. 8-9.

FOR GRAY DAVIS, PRAGMATISM PREVAILS.
January 2, 1999... SACRAMENTO--Bill Clinton isn't the only "Comeback Kid" in American politics. A year ago, when Democrat Gray Davis announced his candidacy for Governor of California, pundits immediately wrote him off as political roadkill. Too much of an...

`HIGH-CRIMES': PRECEDENTS AND HYPOCRITES.
January 16, 1999... Consider some wise words of great consequence for two critical issues now pending before the Senate. The first issue is whether President Clinton's alleged perjuries and obstructions of justice rise to the level of impeachable "high crimes and...

THE STATE OF THE WORLD--FRAGILE BUT EUPHORIC.
January 16, 1999... Wall Street wobbled this week after Brazil was forced to devalue its currency, reviving fears of renewed turmoil in emerging markets. It was a salutary reminder of one or two forgotten truths. To judge by the mood in financial markets over...

Taking Stock of America.
January 16, 1999... "America is working again," President Clinton proclaims at an auto show in Detroit. On one level, this catchy motto is literal truth: As the New Year dawned, the nation's unemployment rate fell to 4.3 percent, a figure economists say approaches...

On the Sunny Side of the Street.(social aspects)
January 16, 1999... Consider this: Of the seven best-selling prescription drugs in the United States in 1997 (the most recent year for which figures exist), three were anti-depressants and two were anti-ulcer medicines--balms for surviving life in the Nervous...

Oh, Woe Is Us! Well, Maybe Not.(American democracy)
January 16, 1999... American democracy at century's end is stagnant and sick, weary and withered. So say a slew of pundits and academics, citing such bleak tidings as the declining rate of voting and the growing influence of Big Money. It's a lament that has been...

Much Less Awful.(environmental responsibility)
January 16, 1999... The seeds of the modern environmental movement were planted in the late 1800s, when the first national park was staked out along Wyoming's Yellowstone River. The quest to save public lands was expanded in the early 1900s by President Theodore...

We're Wired, But Now What?(technology advancements)
January 16, 1999... Technology is changing everything around us, including how people govern their nations, manage their communities, and regard each other. The most obvious and pervasive change technology has wrought recently is the increasing productivity,...

Much Better Than Just Good.(economic development)
January 16, 1999... Forget about America's rock-bottom unemployment rate. Ignore the good news that wages are finally rising for almost everybody (and at about twice the rate of inflation). Two less-known statistics may tell a fuller story about the United States'...

America's Demographic Divide.
January 16, 1999... The demographic state of the union is changing fast. Record numbers of immigrants--mostly from Latin America and from Asia--along with their U.S.-born children account for more than two-thirds of the nation's population growth since 1990. Now...

That's Not Entertainment.(sensationalism)
January 16, 1999... The media monster has many heads, and those heads don't usually agree on much. But lately they have reached near unanimity on one subject, and the conclusion they've drawn so delights the heads that they proclaim it, sing it out together, at...

Redefining National Security.
January 16, 1999... The United States ends this century in a position of unprecedented military and economic dominance. At the same time, it is beset by unfamiliar foreign challenges unleashed by the end of the Cold War, by the spread of technology, and by the...

Grading the Teachers.
January 16, 1999... Education issues have become one of Washington's hottest concerns. With voters consistently ranking the nation's public education system as one of America's top problems, politicians in both parties are jumping eagerly to embrace proposed...

Ducking Health Care Reform.
January 16, 1999... In the 1992 presidential campaign, health care reform was an issue that no candidate could afford to ignore. The ranks of the uninsured had grown to 34 million, double-digit health care inflation was squeezing the country, and polls showed that...

Down, but Not Out.(Boston gang violence)
January 16, 1999... Robert Odom's funeral in the spring of 1992 in Boston's hard-scrabble Mattapan neighborhood may very well have served as the catalyst for a revolution. During the service at the Morningstar Baptist Church, hooded members of the Vamp Hill Kings,...

An Erratic Hand at the Helm.(Pres Bill Clinton's foreign policy)
January 16, 1999... Two anecdotes may illustrate what many regard as the tantalizing promise and the jaw-clenching frustrations of President Clinton's record in trade and international economics. In May 1998, in a speech in Geneva that marked the 50th anniversary...

Dramatic Speeches? Consider This One.(State of the Union address)
January 16, 1999... Some lawmakers may be queasy about receiving President Clinton's State of the Union speech while they weigh his fate, but the subject of their qualms certainly has none: Clinton is eager to deliver this year's address. By day, the Senate...

The Curtain Rises.(impeachment trial)
January 16, 1999... THE PLAYERS IN THE IMPEACHMENT TRIAL HAVE HAD TO RE-REHEARSE THEIR ROLES. If the major players in what is being ballyhooed (for once, not unreasonably) as the Trial of the Century were actors in a drama, their roles would call for them to...

HOPING TO AVOID THE OMINOUS OMNIBUS.(federal budget)
January 16, 1999... Last year was a case study in how not to write the federal budget. The House and Senate never agreed on a budget resolution, a blueprint that is supposed to be completed by April 15. That, in turn, slowed to a crawl any work on the 13 annual...

People.
January 16, 1999... Hill Dwellers A self-described "Hill junkie," Sharon R. Soderstrom has reached its pinnacle: She's senior policy adviser in the office of Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss. In the Majority Leader's office, she'll track health care...

COMPOSING A LITTLE CHAMBER MUSIC.(US Chamber of Commerce)(Interview)
January 16, 1999... Thomas J. Donohue, the outspoken president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, has been at the helm of the giant business trade group for less than 18 months. But Donohue has already bolstered the chamber's lobbying team, and the association's...

From the K Street Corridor.(News Briefs)
January 16, 1999... Al and His Pal Heavyweight Republican fired-raiser and business consultant Wayne L. Berman is singing a happy tune these days after landing former Sen. Alfonse M. D'Amato, R-N.Y., as a business partner. Berman--who once listened blissfully...

PROVIDE DAY CARE, AND THEY WILL COME.
January 16, 1999... VANCOUVER, Wash.--Near the end of the 19th century, a growing America looked to the Columbia River Valley for the lumber needed to build the nation's homes and businesses, fueling an economic boom that lasted for decades. These days, Vancouver...

Hotline Extra.
January 16, 1999... But She's a Woman! Elizabeth Dole's decision to quit as president of the American Red Cross and encourage speculation that she would run for President prompted a burst of extensive media coverage. The broadcast networks prominently...

A REPLAY Of 1986 ISN'T IN THE CARDS.(2000 election)
January 16, 1999... What impact will the impeachment proceedings have on the 2000 elections, particularly those in the House and Senate? While the past year has proven that just about anything is possible, it doesn't appear at this point that the party of the...

ANOTHER PHASE FOR CONGRESS'S TRIAL.
January 16, 1999... According to the Constitution, the House and the Senate share coequal status in the legislative branch. But the Senate trial of President Clinton, triggered by his impeachment by the House, has already revealed in unsubtle ways the differences...

WHY THE GOP's GAMBLING ON IMPEACHMENT.
January 16, 1999... The strangest thing about the impeachment controversy is how little of it is being driven by politics. Why are Republicans pursuing the conviction and removal of a popular President? It makes no political sense. Why did Senate Democrats sign on...

Letters.
January 23, 1999... GOP POLICIES ARE WORKING In his Dec. 19 article ["A Towering Mayor Who's Stumbling," 12/19&26/98, p. 3030] commenting upon my prospects for Governor, Mark Cohen accurately pointed out that Jersey City's teachers and police unions have...

WHY CONVICTION DOES NOT REQUIRE REMOVAL.(impeachment laws)
January 23, 1999... I have good news for the Senate. And for the House. And even for those who (unlike me) want President Clinton censured rather than removed from office. The news is that a reinterpretation of the Constitution, based on a close textual...

CASE DISMISSED.(Bill Clinton impeachment trial)
January 23, 1999... Honorable and distinguished members of the U.S. Senate! I rise before you to plead the case for President Clinton's acquittal. Of course, I'm not a real lawyer; I just play one in this article. So I can be honest. Clinton lied his head...

Promise and Peril.(Bill Clinton impeachment trial)
January 23, 1999... WITNESSES MAY BE THE LAST HOPE FOR HOUSE PROSECUTORS TRYING TO REMOVE THE PRESIDENT FROM OFFICE. BUT THERE IS NO GUARANTEE THAT MONICA AND COMPANY WILL HELP THEIR CASE. Imagine for a moment that presidential friend, confidant and...

No Cop on the Beat.(campaign finance reform)
January 23, 1999... THE FEC, THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT, THE COURTS, AND CONGRESS AREN'T EXACTLY THROWING THE BOOK AT CAMPAIGN FINANCE SCOFFLAWS. The Federal Election Commission held an unusual flurry of public hearings in early December, but no one paid much...

Managing the Middle.(centrist politics)
January 23, 1999... NATIONAL JOURNAL'S 1998 CONGRESSIONAL VOTE RATINGS SHOW THAT REPUBLICAN AND DEMOCRATIC LEADERS CAN'T IGNORE THE CENTRISTS. Capitol Hill was not without its big moments in 1998: the House's impeachment of President Clinton, the resignations...

ASSESSING THE CALLS FOR TAX CUTS.
January 23, 1999... Both the new House Speaker, Republican J. Dennis Hastert of Illinois, and President Clinton have recently called for a new era of bipartisanship--Hastert upon taking the gavel on Jan. 6, and Clinton during his State of the Union address on...

FOR THE HOUSE, LOTS OF TIME BACK HOME.(slim House Republican majority)
January 23, 1999... For the past four years, House committee chairmen chafed under an imperial Speaker who dictated the agenda and dominated the daily message. Now a new Speaker has invited the chairmen to take the legislative lead. Their response, however, has...

A MASSACRE, A MIGRAINE IN THE BALKANS.
January 23, 1999... When the United States brokered an 11th-hour deal with Yugoslav strongman Slobodan Milosevic last October, ending a brutal government offensive in the rebellious Serbian province of Kosovo and narrowly averting NATO air strikes, U.S. officials...

People.(News Briefs)
January 23, 1999... Corporate Life Ex-Bush Administration official John S. Gardner is reconnecting with a former boss. Gardner, 36, has been named a vice president in AT&T Corp.'s Washington outpost, which is headed by James W. Cicconi. From 1989-92, Gardner...

A CLASH OVER EXPORT CURBS.(high tech industry)
January 23, 1999... On Jan. 8, about a dozen computer industry CEOs flew into Washington for a frenzied day of lobbying that included discussions about export controls with both Secretary of Commerce William M. Daley and a key Republican ally in Congress. All...

From the K Street Corridor.
January 23, 1999... A Switch in Time Guess who PanAmSat Corp. has hired to fight Lockheed Martin Corp.'s proposed $2.7 billion acquisition of Comsat Corp.? None other than Richard K. Cook, Lockheed's former top Washington lobbyist until the defense company...

INVASION OF THE LOBBY SNATCHERS.
January 23, 1999... For weeks, K Street's worst-kept secret has been the Interpublic Group of Companies Inc.'s pursuit of Washington lobbying talent. Interpublic, sources said, failed to land its bipartisan dream team, former Reps. Vic Fazio, D-Calif., and Bill...

Correction.(National Journal, Jan 2 and Jan 9, 1999, p. 56)
January 23, 1999... Correction: In a recent column (1/2 & 9/99, p. 56), we credited Powell Tate instead of the Wexler Group for helping the Credit Union National Association Inc. succeed on Capitol Hill. In the spirit of the Tommy Awards, we give one to ourselves...

GUNFIGHT AT THE OK COURTROOM.(gunmaker liability)
January 23, 1999... This is the era of the big case. First the states successfully smoked out Big Tobacco, then the feds chipped away at hegemonic Microsoft, and now the cities have aimed at Big Guns. Lawsuits filed last fall in state courts by the cities of...

DEFYING NIXON-LIKE GRAVITY.(Bill Clinton impeachment trial)
January 23, 1999... A week before Bill Clinton gave his Jan. 19 State of the Union speech, skeptics in the White House press corps wondered if the President wanted to deliver his remarks in the middle of his impeachment trial in order to bolster his standing in...

WHY THE CLIMATE MATTERS IN OFF YEARS.
January 23, 1999... Much of the discussion in political circles in recent weeks has centered on the impact of the impeachment proceedings on next year's congressional elections. A more immediate concern, however, is what impact impeachment will have on the...

Hotline Extra.(News Briefs)
January 23, 1999... The Morning After President Clinton got mixed reviews in Wednesday morning papers from editorial writers who watched his Jan. 19 State of the Union address the night before: Albany (N.Y.) Times Union: "An impeachment trial in the...

THE DEFENDANT GAVE A BOFFO SPEECH.(Bill Clinton's State of the Union address)
January 23, 1999... For most of official Washington, the State of the Union address is just one more ritual to be enjoyed or endured, depending on your attitude and your ideology. But for President Clinton, it is a ripe political opportunity. In his latest...

VIEWS ON THE ECONOMY.
January 23, 1999... Generally Speaking How would you rate economic conditions in the country today? (Gallup Organization Inc. for CNN-USA Today) 1/99 VERY GOOD ...

BEHIND THE GOP PUSH FOR WITNESSES.
January 23, 1999... Americans understand trials. Over the years, from the Lindbergh case to the O.J. Simpson potboiler, trials have A become part of our popular culture. The Democrats' top priority right now is to prevent the Senate's impeachment proceedings from...

Correction.(Correction to National Journal, Jan 2 and 9, 1999, p. 31)
January 30, 1999... In a recent summary of major players in the Social Security debate (1/2&9/99, p. 31), a characterization of Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan's reform plan as the "My Lai of Social Security reform" was incorrectly attributed to a book by Brookings...

A DEMOCRAT'S CREDO: I DON'T WANT TO KNOW.(impeachment trial)
January 30, 1999... After somehow stumbling into inconvenient alliance with right-wing Republicans on the matter of our slightly-reprehensible-but-utterly-indispensable President, I wish to announce that I have seen the light. I am repenting my sins, returning to...

A PERPLEXED CALL FROM ABROAD: WHY HASN'T HE GONE?
January 30, 1999... You will agree, I hope, that this column has exercised great restraint in the matter of impeachment. There are reasons for this. I'm an Englishman (writing mainly from London), so I am sensitive that you may think the whole thing is none of my...

Let the Good Times Roll.(budget deficit and surplus)
January 30, 1999... FOR YEARS, THE BUDGET DEFICIT SHAPED POLITICS AND GOVERNANCE IN WASHINGTON. NOW, WITH SURPLUSES PROJECTED AS FAR AS THE EYE CAN SEE, THE OLD RULES SUDDENLY NO LONGER APPLY. "We have no permanent deficit anymore; the natural condition is a...

The Kasich Factor.(John R. Kasich)
January 30, 1999... WILL HIS PRESIDENTIAL AMBITIONS GET IN THE WAY OF THE REPUBLICANS' DESIRE FOR A TROUBLE-FREE BUDGET SEASON? As he convened his committee on Jan. 20 for its first meeting of 1999, House Budget Chairman John R. Kasich, R-Ohio, pledged to work...

A Bilingual Recess.
January 30, 1999... A SEMESTER AFTER PROPOSITION 227 PROMISED TO END BILINGUAL EDUCATION, CALIFORNIA FINDS A DIFFERENT RESULT. EAST LOS ANGELES--Here at Evergreen Avenue Elementary School, in the Latino heart of this city, teacher Joel Rivas sits squeezed into...

Smart Salute.
January 30, 1999... WORRIED ABOUT AN EXODUS OF EXPERIENCED TROOPS, TH E PRESIDENT AND CONGRESS ARE MOVING QUICKLY TO RESTORE MILITARY RETIREMENT BENEFITS CUT IN 1986. Money can work miracles. Sometimes, it can even bring an issue back from the dead. As the...

THE IMPEACHMENT SHOW GOES ON.
January 30, 1999... Casting the Senate in the role of conciliator, adjudicator, and national healer in the great impeachment mess seemed a risky proposition when President Clinton's trial began three weeks ago. Slowly and methodically, though, the Senate is...

MR. SMITH STRUGGLES OVER IMPEACHMENT.(Republican Senator Gordon Smith )
January 30, 1999... The oversized oil paintings that adorn Oregon Republican Gordon Smith's Senate office depict pastoral scenes: horses grazing in a mountain field; cows clustered near a barn and silo; a little red cabin perched amid scrub trees beneath puffy...

TACKLING RISING AIRFARES.
January 30, 1999... Across the country, Americans are howling over rising airfares. In the past year, the average price for a one-way ticket from Atlanta to Louisville, Ky., has skyrocketed by almost 125 percent, and the cost to fly from Chicago to Wichita, Kan.,...

NO PARTY HATS FOR TELCO ACT BIRTHDAY.(telecommunications law)
January 30, 1999... It's been almost three years since President Clinton signed legislation to overhaul the nation's telecommunications laws. At the time, many lawmakers on both sides of the aisle ecstatically proclaimed that the measure would be a boon to...

THE NEW SCHOOL PRINCIPAL, UNCLE SAM.
January 30, 1999... In a way, it all began with George Bush, the first self-styled "Education President." Not that Bush got very far in pushing his plans for national education standards through Congress. But the focus he placed on the issue set off a wave of...

SETTLING FOR A DOWN-SIZED DREAM.(discrimination in agricultural policy)
January 30, 1999... After a 15-year struggle with the Agriculture Department over his charges of racial discrimination, John C. Newkirt, a black farmer in Garfield, Ga., hopes for a modest payoff. He would be happy with a 103-acre plot of land with about 50 cattle...

NO STAMP OF APPROVAL FOR POSTAL REFORM.
January 30, 1999... For years, Rep. John M. McHugh, R-N.Y., has pushed to modernize the U.S. Postal Service--certainly not the most captivating issue in Washington. But McHugh hasn't given up, and his latest proposal has set off a brawl involving newspapers,...

BUYER BEWARE.(Legislators as lobbyists)
January 30, 1999... On K Street, the recruiting season remains in full swing. Since Election Day, law and lobbying firms, trade associations, and Washington corporate offices have wined and dined the stars of Capitol Hill's graduating class of 1998. How valuable...