Word: congress
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Starr cannot be persuaded to sanction a deal, there are two ways around him--one short, one much longer. Congress could grant Clinton immunity from prosecution in exchange for a deal. Such protections have gone before to people like Oliver North in exchange for their cooperation. Starr might not like that outcome, but there wouldn't be much he could do about it. Or Clinton might be persuaded to take his chances in court after leaving office, betting that any jury would feel that he had already paid his debt. If he is lucky, if he has not completely exhausted...
Even if staff members weren't so distracted, it would still be hard to put together a plausible strategy for dealing with Congress for the next six weeks, as both sides try to agree on how to spend about a trillion dollars next year. Clinton vowed that any budget surplus should be devoted to "saving Social Security first," and so he ruled out any new farm aid. But everything is negotiable now. It's "cash and carry," as one Democratic lobbyist put it. So when potential supporters come asking for money, Clinton is not in a very strong position...
...take last week's string of straight-party votes--on everything from which evidence to release to the ground rules for impeachment--to prove what most of Capitol Hill already knows. Clinton's fate lies in the hands of one of the most doggedly partisan committees in all of Congress...
...with a tinge of pride. "We fight like cats and dogs." Prominent Republicans with a cause include Charles Canady, father of the English-as-the-official-language bill, and Barr, an anti-gun control crusader with close ties to the National Rifle Association. On the left are some of Congress's strongest civil rights partisans, including Waters and Texan Sheila Jackson Lee. The committee has had some low-key bipartisan successes in areas such as court reform and defining intellectual-property rights in the cyber age, but they haven't got as much attention as the politically dangerous wedge issues...
Most moderate members of Congress would prefer a long stint on the surface transportation subcommittee. The Judiciary Committee's incendiary issues make its members inviting targets for special-interest attack ads, which can be treacherous for members from competitive districts. And since the committee doesn't even confirm federal judges, as its Senate counterpart does, it's almost entirely patronage free. At least on surface transportation, a member could get a new bus line for his home district...