Word: vetoes
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Congress he was willing to compromise on every aspect of his proposal except one: universal coverage. "If you send me legislation that does not guarantee every American private health insurance that can never be taken away," he told Congress in January, "you will force me to take this pen, veto the legislation, and we'll come right back here and start all over again...
When PRESIDENT CLINTON visited Capitol Hill last week for closed-door meetings on health care, he didn't make his usual threat to veto any bill that fails to provide "universal coverage," according to Representative Jim Cooper. Instead, Clinton used the phrase "full coverage." Cooper and other lawmakers have been arguing that "full coverage" is like "full employment" -- it doesn't mean 100%; it means roughly 95%. Some members of Congress feel that with this latest very Clintonian semantic shift, the President may be giving himself room to compromise...
...staunch liberals as Ted Kennedy, reflects a weakening of their political position. Polls show declining public support for expansive health-care-reform schemes. Republicans feel more free to oppose such schemes in favor of limited insurance reforms. Democrats, meanwhile, are growing reluctant to back Clinton in his vow to veto any bill that fails to ensure universal coverage. Says a congressional health-care analyst: "A lot of us are worried that the White House badly needs a reality check. Clinton and his people are out of touch with what the public will accept and what Congress will vote...
...House Speaker Tom Foley, who will have to round up votes to prevent Congress from overturning a Clinton decision. Since a year after the Tiananmen Square massacre, lawmakers have been pressing the White House to punish Beijing by withdrawing MFN status; twice in 1992 lawmakers forced George Bush to veto such moves. That drew from campaigner Clinton an accusation that Bush was willing to "coddle tyrants" in Beijing. Clinton implied he would use trade threats as a club to force the Chinese to behave on human rights -- yet another campaign pledge he now seems to find it wiser...
Whatever Clinton decides is not likely to be overturned by Congress, where opponents could not muster the two-thirds votes needed to override a presidential veto if legislators forced a showdown. But Clinton will take a political roasting no matter what he does. Administration officials say he has come to see the wisdom of extending MFN and delinking it from human rights, which he could promote better by diplomatic means. But politically he cannot afford to take such a forthright stand yet. Instead, the President seems to be aiming for the now familiar sort of compromise that pleases...