Byrd Dogs Republicans With Stall on GOP Proposals : Senate: Democratic rule-master shows his side can play the gridlock game too. He holds up action on balanced budget, line-item veto, unfunded mandates.

By EDWIN CHEN and MELISSA HEALY

Jan. 18, 1995 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITERS

WASHINGTON — Coolly demonstrating that Democrats are just as skilled as Republicans at gumming up the legislative process, a former Senate kingpin stalled two high-priority GOP proposals Tuesday and cast a shadow over a third.

Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.), a parliamentarian extraordinaire, forced two Senate panels to shut down abruptly, enraging some Republicans and strengthening GOP resolve to overcome his tactics. The maneuvering set the stage for a possible showdown later this week on the balanced-budget amendment, the line-item veto and so-called unfunded mandates.

Democrats, of course, had a different view. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), new head of the Democratic National Committee, hailed Byrd’s maneuvers as a way to slow down the process. Efforts “to get some really solid thinking about this is an appropriate step, and I appreciate immensely what Sen. Byrd is doing.”

Byrd, a crusty six-term senator who chaired the Appropriations Committee until the Republicans took control of Congress this year, was able to slow down the GOP juggernaut by invoking an obscure parliamentary rule: Committees technically cannot meet after the Senate itself has been in session for two hours on any day unless all 100 members grant consent.

Thus any senator may successfully object to a committee meeting after the Senate has met for two hours. Senators rarely exercise that prerogative--only two or three times a year, according to Senate parliamentarian Robert Dove. Byrd’s objections Tuesday were the first in the new Republican-controlled Congress.

His actions forced the Senate Judiciary Committee to abort a debate over the balanced-budget amendment in the morning and prevented a Judiciary subcommittee from meeting in the afternoon to take testimony on the presidential line-item veto.

“I would hope he’ll restrain the use of this rule,” Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) said after adjourning his committee. “I’m hoping this is an isolated, one-day approach.”

Some Republicans, however, reacted to Byrd’s shenanigans with bemused tolerance. “We have what we know as ‘Byrd-lock,’ ” quipped Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.), who just four months ago was trotting out his own parliamentary moves to block legislation proposed by the then-majority Democrats.

“I know Sen. Byrd is using the rules properly,” Dole said. “I don’t fuss with him at all or complain about it. He doesn’t want the balanced-budget amendment to come up. This is all a part of that.”

If Byrd, 77, persists with his objections, the GOP-controlled panels will have no choice but to meet in early mornings and possibly late evenings--after the Senate has finished business for the day.

Hatch called a committee meeting for 8:30 a.m. today. Progress could be slow, with debate expected on at least half a dozen Democratic amendments. Similarly, Sen. Hank Brown (R-Colo.) tentatively scheduled a meeting for his Judiciary subcommittee early Thursday morning.

But Byrd vowed to keep up the fight. “I may be run over by the steamroller, but I don’t propose to get out of its way or just jump upon it and ride along with it.”

The West Virginian’s tactic seemed unlikely to prevent eventual passage of the balanced-budget amendment, the line-item veto or the unfunded mandates bill, which would place restrictions on the ability of Congress to require spending by state and local governments without also providing them with the necessary funds.

But his actions served notice that the Republican majority will have to contend with his parliamentary tactics in the future.

Wisconsin’s Republican Gov. Tommy G. Thompson, who was in town to testify for the line-item veto, was less generous. “This is a poor way to run a railroad, let alone a government.”

Analysts, however, said that Byrd was merely acting in the finest Senate tradition. “In the Senate, a single member can gum up the works,” said political scientist John J. Pitney Jr. of Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, Calif. “This is exactly what James Madison intended. . . . The House is a decision-making body and the Senate is a deliberative body.”

Also on Tuesday, the House gave final approval, 390-0, to the Congressional Accountability Act, sending the first bill of the 104th Congress to President Clinton for his signature. The bill subjects Congress to the same workplace laws that it imposes on the private sector. Senate Republicans had blocked a similar bill before the November elections.

The balanced-budget amendment is a central plank of the House GOP “contract with America,” and proponents view it as a vital tool for controlling government spending. But many Democrats are demanding that Republicans first provide a plan detailing for voters the location and extent of the spending cuts that would be required to bring spending in line with receipts. The amendment must be adopted by two-thirds of the House and Senate and then ratified by at least 38 state legislatures.

On the Senate floor, as debate dragged on over the unfunded mandates, Senate Majority Whip Trent Lott of Mississippi blamed Byrd for slowing down action on the bill.

In response, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) said that the debate is a “very useful exercise,” since Democrats have “a number of questions” about the bill.

To try to bring the matter to a head, Dole filed a cloture motion Tuesday night, which will force a vote Thursday night to cut off debate after 48 hours. To pass, the motion needs 60 votes.

Times staff writer Richard A. Serrano contributed to this story.