The Palm Beach Post from West Palm Beach, Florida • Page 3

c' THE PALM BEACH POST FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1995 3 House votes to restrict U.N. help the vote gives Congress greater say in committing payments and troops to peacemaking efforts abroad. The New York Times 1 WASHINGTON Defying President Clinton's veiled threat of a veto. Oie House oi Representatives on rTl 1 1 I'll i Also In Washington SENATE Republican supporters of the balanced-budget amendment and their Democratic opponents agreed to vote on the amendment Feb. 28, ending two weeks of slow debate over the measure that Republicans charged had become a filibuster.

HOUSE Speaker Newt Gingrich, took aim at the Environmental Protection Agency, calling it 'the biggest job-killing agency in inner-city Gingrich characterized the agency as 'a highly centralized command bureaucracy artificially trying to impose its judgment with almost no knowledge of local conditions and with a static rather than dynamic view of EPA Administrator Carol Browner, speaking later in the day from the same podium, defended the agency. She said the Clean Air Act 'is working' and hailed the successes of the Superfund program. 'Fine balances have been struck in each piece of legislation. These should not be casually she said. THE DISTRICT of Columbia's delegate to Congress proposed a financial oversight board with wide-ranging powers to begin managing the city's affairs by the end of the month.

Eleanor Holmes Norton said the board would have complete power to tackle budget deficit and structur- i al problems by determining how money is spent. Dole said. "It is high time that we rein in U.N. peacekeeping, which is out of control." But the bill faces an uphill fight in the Senate, which is more likely to respect presidential prerogatives on foreign and military policy. In addition to limiting American financial contributions to peacekeeping, the measure would set restrictions on when American troops may serve under U.N.

command and would create a bipartisan commission to study national security strategy. One central provision speeding the fielding of a national defense against ballistic missiles was defeated by concerns about its cost. Another, requiring congressional approval before U.S. troops could join any new U.N. peacekeeping missions, succumbed to an assertion by the administration and Democrats that it would infringe on presidential authority.

But the bill would give Congress a role, not only by limiting the financing of troop missions abroad but also by prohibiting American troops from serving under U.N. commanders unless the president cites a national security need. Called the National Security Revi-talization Act, the measure authorizes no new spending for specific programs. Republicans say it provides a series of checks on the administration's foreign policy-making and will serve as a blueprint when Congress drafts foreign aid and military spending bills later this year. Republicans' loudest message during nearly 13 hours of often emotional debate over two days, assaulted the growing influence they said the United Nations wields over American troops and Washington's pocketbook.

"The nation has gone too far in the direction of globalism and lost sight of its essential footings, and we intend to correct that," said the House majority leader, Dick Armey of Texas. ed Nations over America's troops and budget. Opponents said it would undermine the president's flexibility to deal with foreign crises. The measure would deduct from Washington's annual peacekeeping dues the extra costs the Pentagon incurs in American-run military missions that receive the blessing of the United Nations such as the one in Haiti. As those costs exceeded the $1 billion in dues this year, critics said, the measure would bankrupt the U.N.

peacekeeping budget. The bill now goes to the Senate, where the majority leader, Bob Dole of Kansas, has introduced legislation imposing similar restrictions on peacekeeping missions. "Today's action in the House on U.N. peacekeeping is good news for U.S. foreign policy and U.S.

taxpayers," I nuisuay appiuveu a uui inai would cut U.S. payments for U.N. peacekeeping efforts arid give Congress a greater say in committing troops abroad. By a vote of 241-181, lawmakers approved the national security tenets of the Republicans' Contract With America, after a campaign by Democrats and flie Clinton administration succeeded in defeating or watering down a few important provisions. In the final vote, 223 Republicans and 18 Democrats voted for the bill, while 176 Democrats, 4 Republicans, and 1 Independent voted 4gainst.

Republicans called their bill an effort to bolster a weakened military and fight the growing influence of the Unit Justice begins criminal probe of commerce chief's finances The New York Times WASHINGTON The Justice Department announced Thursday that it had opened a preliminary criminal investigation into Commerce Secretary Ronald Brown's business dealings and garten, played down the announcement and said his client had not broken any laws. "The independent counsel law left Justice with no choice but to move to a preliminary investigation," he said. But federal law-enforcement officials who have followed the case said that Brown's dealings were so convoluted that the inquiry was bound to be prolonged and difficult as they waded through a welter of serious ethical questions. Chief among them, they said, is the question of why Brown was paid about $400,000 for his stake in an apparently worthless company in which he had invested no money. The officials said the issues they would be examining included whether Brown violated tax or financial disclosure laws and whether he was paid money by i people seeking to influence the Commerce Department.

i This is the second Justice De- partment investigation into I Brown. He was cleared last year after a review of accusations that he had accepted bribes from the Vietnamese government to work for normalization of relations. Michael McCurry, the White House press secretary, said -Thursday before the Justice Devit partment's announcement that the 1 White House was watching Brown's legal issues closely, but that the commerce secretary had President Clinton's full confi- dence. McCurry's deputy, Ginny Ter- zano, said Thursday evening that the White House position had not changed and that, "the attorney general took an action today that was proper under the statute." personal finances to determine whether an in-dependent counsel should be appointed in the case. The decision is the second step along a proce Brown dural path dictated by the independent-counsel law.

It follows a 30-day initial review in which the Justice Department was required to determine whether accusations against Brown were clear-cut and from a credible source. The decision Thursday, find THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Leah Easterwood sits amid the wreckage of a friend's home after a tornado destroyed it Thursday. Rescue teams elsewhere found a baby unharmed beneath two wrecked trailers. Alabama tornado kills 3, hurts 106 ing that both conditions had been met, is a blow to Brown, who will Fountain I (Sill. "Normally they give us a siren warning, but they didn't this morning," Karen Berry said.

"There was nothing." There was just the howl of the wind in the dark sending debris smashing through windows, tearing off roofs, pulling trees from the soil and demolishing trailers, homes and lives. Hospital officials said 66 people were treated Thursday morning, with 13 admitted and four transferred to Huntsville for additional care, and that they knew of 40 other people treated at two other hospitals. The tornado apparently hit a subdivision in the rural community of Joppa, where about a dozen injuries were reported, and then moved on to Arab, some 3 miles east, authorities said. The Associated Press ARAB, Ala. A tornado ripped across northern Alabama before dawn Thursday, killing at least three people and injuring at least 106.

Teams looking for more victims in the rubble found a baby unharmed beneath two wrecked trailers. The town's dead included a 4-year-old girl and two men, all killed in separate locations, Marshall County Coroner Dempsey Hibbs said. About an hour before the tornado hit, lightning struck the office of the National Weather Service in Huntsville. The service's Birmingham office was able to issue a warning at 5 a.m., minutes before the twister raced through Arab, but police didn't have time to warn everyone. now face a deeper review of his conduct by criminal prosecutors.

But the action does not mean the government has reached any conclusions about whether he violated any law. Fourteen Republican senators asked Attorney General Janet Reno last month to determine whether Brown had evaded taxes, avoided financial disclosure requirements or misled Congress in the course of his highly complicated business dealings with a Washington business executive, No-landa Hill. Brown's attorney, Reid Wein- Soda Good at Chili's restaurants in Jensen Beach, Jupiter and West Palm Beach I BAR) The Palm Beach Post IQ0J CQgrggt -lOft I I or greater than the cost of Only one coupon per party per visit your newspaper every day. may be used. Valid 217 -22395.

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