10/31/00 3:00 p.m.
Shutdown Redux
Clinton’s latest attempt to salvage his legacy.

Kate O’Beirne is NR’s Washington editor.

ill Clinton is loading congressional Democrats into the lifeboats in the hope that they can be saved in the event SS Gore sinks to the bottom.

Clinton last night vetoed the budget for Congress' own operations supposedly because Republicans refuse to "focus on the priorities of the American people" (i.e., refuse to pass a Clinton-supported amnesty for more than a million illegal aliens). The president has decided to risk a high-profile showdown in a desperate attempt to salvage his legacy.

Al Gore might be beyond help, but if Clinton can make congressional Republicans the issue by resurrecting unpleasant memories of the 1995 government shutdown, he figures he has a shot at winning back the House that he cost the Democrats in 1994. But, it's tough to see how picking this last-minute fight with Republicans will alter the GOP's good chances of holding the House.

Clinton's last minute maneuvering has kept Republicans stuck in Washington, a fate they were willing to pay a trillion dollars over the next ten years to avoid. After agreeing to huge spending increases, they have finally drawn a line over the amnesty issue (unfavorable politically to Clinton) and new ergonomic regulations (unfathomable to everyone). Alaska Republican Sen. Ted Stevens calls Clinton's surprise veto a "declaration of war," but the budget combatants will have a tough time making their case to voters who are ignoring the Hill and paying (limited) attention to the presidential race.

Al Gore doesn't dare weigh in on the dispute lest it partner him again with the Big Creep, and involve him in exactly the kind of bitter partisan posturing that George Bush pledges to end. So, Clinton will have to flail away himself, trying to chance the environment in a desperate bid to avoid losing the trifecta: President Gore, Speaker Gephardt, and Senator Hillary.