Congress

HOUSTON - National Rifle Association leaders told members Saturday that the fight against gun control legislation was far from over, with battles yet to come in Congress and next year's midterm elections, but they vowed that none in the organization would ever have to surrender their weapons. Proponents of gun control also asserted that they are in their fight for the long haul and have not been disheartened by last month's defeat of a bill that would have expanded background checks for gun sales.

Despite the attention it gets every year, the President's budget is only a plan. Congress actually writes the laws that set taxes and spending. Here's a quick look at the process: Clinton's budget proposal now goes to Congress, where dozens of House and Senate committees will have a hand in picking it apart, keeping what they like and changing the rest. Virtually all 535 members of Congress become involved in one way or another. The first step will be a budget resolution, which sets a total spending level for the government, as well as maximums for broad categories of spending, such as transportation and housing.

Early word from the White House reports that President Reagan intends to use his Jan. 21 State of the Union address to ask Congress to revise the way it sets priorities on taxing and spending. Obviously Congress needs to do better; its budget process hasn't worked as intended for years. Even so, President Reagan's proposal would take a flawed process and make it worse. Essentially Mr. Reagan intends to ask for more power to tell Congress what to do. Currently Congress sets priorities by having both houses pass an annual resolution establishing ceilings per category of spending.

WASHINGTON - The American public increasingly favors allowing same-sex marriage, but most of the country's representatives in Congress are not convinced. A new survey by the gay-rights group Human Rights Campaign found that just 34 percent of House and Senate members support same-sex marriage while 44 percent oppose and 23 percent have unknown or unclear positions. The survey gauged each member's views on the issue by asking if the member believed same-sex couples should have the right to marry.

I am deeply disappointed by the collapse of the Iceland summit because of our President's unwillingness to compromise over "Star Wars," a concept that seems to have more in common with science fiction than with the realities of our contemporary world. In this way a historic chance has been lost to lessen the danger of nuclear war and to curb the arms race. Let us all do whatever possible to urge our representatives in Congress to reverse this backward step, even at this late hour, and thus continue the momentum toward better relations with the Soviet Union.

Another year, another "do-nothing" Congress. The only thing that has changed is the party in power. After spending most of the last 10 years in the minority, the Democrats took control of Congress in January with great fanfare. But on most issues ranging from war policy to health care, the new Congress has been more talk than walk. Lawmakers are two months late on the most basic task: passing annual spending bills to fund government operations. Failing to meet basic goals is bad enough.

The White House said yesterday that it would welcome a resolution from Congress endorsing the use of force in the Middle East, but Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell (D., Maine) predicted legislators would not approve such a measure because it would amount to a "blank check. " White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said President Bush feels that a congressional resolution similar to the one adopted three weeks ago by the United Nations would be "the way to go" if Congress wanted to be "helpful" in the Persian Gulf crisis.

By ordering the United Nations to close down the mission of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Congress has embroiled the United States in an unnecessary legal mess and muddied U.S. attempts to get a new Mideast peace offensive off the ground. The 1987 legislation, supposedly aimed to combat terrorism, has already shut down the PLO's Washington information office. That achievement, whatever one thinks of the PLO's policies, hit hard at U.S. guarantees of free speech, while doing nothing to stop terrorism.

As it does on so many issues, Congress is taking its time deciding whether all of its members will convene in Philadelphia this summer to mark the Constitution's bicentennial. Willard G. Rouse 3rd, chairman of the celebration, rushed to Capitol Hill yesterday, using a private plane to fly from Philadelphia, to arrive in time for a hastily called meeting with House Speaker Jim Wright, D-Texas. Accompanied by members of the Philadelphia-area congressional delegation, Rouse came to allay Wright's fears about logistical and financial problems involved in plans to move all 535 members of Congress to Philadelphia for the bicentennial on July 16. On that date in 1787, the Constitutional Convention meeting in Philadelphia reached a compromise creating a two-house legislature.

THE CAUSES of poverty are complex and many. One cause, though, is emerging as a dominant factor in the record numbers of people living in poverty: Congress. This week, both the Senate and the House moved on a new farm bill, which determines the budget and policies for agriculture every five years or so. In addition to agriculture, it also funds the food-stamp program. On Wednesday, the House Agriculture Committee approved a $940 billion farm bill, a day after the Senate approved its own version.

WASHINGTON - Here is how Philadelphia-area members of Congress voted on major issues last week: House U.S. debt priorities. Voting 221-207, the House on Thursday sent the Senate a Republican bill (HR 807) giving payment priority to bondholders, such as domestic pension funds and foreign governments, if the Treasury were unable to meet all of its debt obligations. Social Security trust funds would be next in line, followed in no special order by the thousands of fiscal obligations - everything from military salaries to education grants to veterans benefits - routinely funded by the Treasury.

MANOR, Texas - President Obama swooped into the booming Austin area on Thursday to showcase manufacturing growth and technology innovation as he began a series of visits across the country designed to pressure Congress to pass his economic agenda. Making stops in and around the Texas capital, Obama called anew on lawmakers to act on ideas he laid out in February's State of the Union address to expand the middle class by investing in new jobs and job training. The divided Congress has made it difficult for the president to move forward with his employment agenda.

CHARLESTON, S.C. - Former Republican South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford revived a scandal-scarred political career by winning back his old congressional seat Tuesday in a district that had not elected a Democrat in three decades. The comeback was complete when he defeated Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch, the sister of political satirist Stephen Colbert. With 87 percent of the precincts reporting, Sanford had 54 percent of the vote. Sanford, who turns 53 later this month, has never lost a race in three runs for Congress and two for governor.

Camden Bishop Dennis Sullivan delivered an impassioned homily Friday evening at a Vineland church, telling a crowd of more than 1,500 that the Catholic Church was pushing for immigration reform in Congress with "a moral urgency we have not had in the last decade. " The sermon, at Divine Mercy Parish, came as Congress appears to be on the cusp of changes that have eluded lawmakers in recent years. Given the new opportunity, Sullivan urged parishioners to contact their members of Congress and ask them to move legislation forward.

CHARLESTON, S.C. - Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford and Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch traded verbal jabs during spirited exchanges Monday night in their only scheduled debate in the race for the state's vacant First Congressional District seat. With eight days to go before next Tuesday's special election, Sanford stressed his efforts to rein in spending as a three-term member of Congress and as a two-term governor. The Republican noted that he was the first governor in the nation to turn back economic-stimulus funds.

When U.S. Rep. Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky, Democrat of Pennsylvania, switched her vote to "yes" that summer night in 1993, jeering erupted from the Republican side of the House chamber: "Bye-bye, Margie!" As political prognosticators, her tormentors turned out to be right. She lost in 1994, and left Congress after one term. Margolies-Mezvinsky, a moderate, had cast the deciding vote to enact President Bill Clinton's economic plan, which increased taxes $241 billion; most of the burden fell on the wealthy, but there was also a gasoline tax, and besides, she had promised in her 1992 campaign to oppose tax increases.

FORMER City Controller Jonathan Saidel on Tuesday dropped his bid to replace U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz, citing the interest in the race from Marjorie Margolies, who once held the seat. Saidel, in a statement, made clear that Democrats are starting to line up behind Margolies, including former President Bill Clinton, a fundraising powerhouse. Margolies' son is married to Clinton's daughter. "Over the past few days, I have had conversations with Marjorie Margolies and national Democratic leaders," Saidel said.

Former Philadelphia City Controller Jonathan Saidel dropped out Tuesday from the Democratic primary in the 13th Congressional District, citing the party heavyweights backing former U.S. Rep. Marjorie Margolies. One of them apparently is a certain former president known as Bubba. Bill Clinton owes Margolies big-time - and besides, she is daughter Chelsea's mother-in-law. Saidel's sudden move was the biggest domino to fall thus far in the race to replace U.S. Rep. Allyson Y. Schwartz, who is running for governor in 2014.