Word: tenuous
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...abductions threaten a tenuous democracy...
When a study by the Centers for Disease Control concluded in the late 1980s that the link between Agent Orange and various cancers was too tenuous to prove, it looked as if the many years of highly charged debate over the notorious defoliant used in Vietnam were over. Only 1,000 of the 39,000 claims made would be paid out; the rest of the veterans would be left with nothing but bitter memories...
Still, it seems that the big American firms are not quite ready to compete in the world economy. They owe many of their tenuous gains to the weak dollar, which jacks up the price of foreign steel; that has helped reduce the imports' share of the U.S. steel market from a peak of 26% in 1984 to about 16% today. "The nonunion companies are world-class leaders," says John Tumazos, who follows the steel industry for the firm Donaldson Lufkin Jenrette. "The competitiveness of the large, traditional companies results primarily from the weak dollar...
...immediate problem was that even this tenuous deal left Clinton well short of the 51 votes he needs to gain Senate approval. With the slim margin afforded by a 56-to-44 vote in the Senate, Democrats can afford to lose only six colleagues if they hope to save the measure. Already, Richard Shelby of Alabama, Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey and Dennis DeConcini of Arizona have made it clear that they cannot support the President. Of the six other Democratic votes up for grabs, Clinton must win three. Louisiana's Bennett Johnston voted against the package in June...
This group of senators, most of whom face tough re-election battles in 1994, decided that a perfunctory and moot "no" vote afforded some sort of political innoculation against the tax allergy of wrathful voters. The Clinton administration, aware of these legislators' tenuous election prospects, "let them off the hook...