Juliet Eilperin writes that "The House yesterday unanimously approved legislation that would provide $582 million to pay back dues to the United Nations, a reflection of how the political landscape has been altered by the terrorist attacks two weeks ago. …

" ‘We’re not going to deny the president the flexibility he needs in conducting foreign policy,’ DeLay spokesman Jonathan Grella said.

"Although the measure does not wipe out the United States’ entire U.N. debt - the nation owes $862 million to the international body - it represents a significant step forward in what has been a contentious legislative process. …

The Associated Press reports (Washington Times, 9/15/00, p. A3) that "Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, Mississippi Republican, has promised a vote within the month on legislation allowing funding for research on stem cells from discarded human embryos, said Sen. Arlen Specter, Pennsylvania Republican, chairman of the Appropriations Committee's health and human services panel.

"'I believe we have the votes,' said Sen. Tom Harkin, Iowa Democrat, who co-sponsored Mr. Specter's legislation. 'I hope we have the votes.'

"However, critics oppose the research, calling it illegal, immoral and unnecessary. ...

"Mr. Specter's legislation would let women agree to donate to federally funded researchers their embryos that were left over from in-vitro fertilization treatments."

UPI reports (NewsMax.com, 5/23/00) that "President Clinton and House Speaker Dennis Hastert today unveiled a multibillion-dollar urban and rural reinvestment program one member of Congress called 'the most comprehensive anti-poverty program coming out of government in more than a generation.'

"The bipartisan legislation essentially doubles -- to 80 nationwide -- the number of 'empowerment zones' where the government offers financial assistance and tax incentives for businesses to invest.

"The proposal includes Clinton's proposals to expand empowerment zones from 31 to 40 and a Republican proposal to create 40 additional areas under a parallel program called 'renewal communities.' Zones are to be determined through a competitive process run by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, but the legislation requires that at least 20 percent of the new communities be in rural areas."

$20 BILLION OF YOUR TAXES WILL BE USED AS POLITICAL PATRONAGE

"White House National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling said the package could cost as much as $20 billion over 10 years...."

WILL SUBSIDIES MAKE "FAITH-BASED" INSTITUTIONS ACCOUNTABLE TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT?

"The bill also contains a Republican-backed plan to allow faith organizations access to federal money to operate drug-treatment programs. That program has been closely negotiated to avoid constitutional limits on federal funding of religious organizations, White House officials said. The legislation also requires faith organizations have a three-year record of success before they are eligible for federal money."

Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.), a guest on Fox News Sunday (11/7/99), had this to say about Senate confirmation of President Clinton's appointees to the Federal judiciary:

"[T]his Congress has approved something like 300 judges -- well, since Clinton has been in office -- 300 federal judges....Two hundred, 200 have been since we've been in the majority. ...And we've only rejected one federal judge since I have been majority leader."

When Dennis Hastert was a mere member of the U.S. House of Representatives, prior to his selection as Speaker, his one vote which distinguished him as more conservative than other top Republicans was his support for Roscoe Bartlett's motion to reject paying off the phony debt claims which the United Nations has made on the U.S. Treasury.

Unfortunately, now that Congressman Hastert is Speaker Hastert, he is walking the pro-U.N. path trod by Newt Gingrich, Trent Lott, Bob Dole, and other GOP Congressional leaders past and present.

HASTERT SAYS CLINTON IS RESPONSIBLE FOR BAILOUT DELAY

As reported by Robert Novak (New York Post, 3/28/99, p. 57), "House Speaker Dennis Hastert, meeting with United Nations Secretary General Kofi Anan before the air campaign against Serbia, blamed President Clinton for the U.S. failure to pay U.N. dues.

"Anan, lobbying Hastert for the delinquent payments, warned that the United States could lose its vote in the world organization. The speaker replied that the United Nations would have its money now had Clinton not opposed legislation that authorized payment of the dues but also contained anti-abortion language."

IF LOTT AND HASTERT TRULY BELIEVE THAT AMERICA "HAS BEEN ON THE RIGHT TRACK" HOW CAN THEY CREDIBLY PROPOSE A CHANGE OF DIRECTION?

In "An Open Letter to the American People" (USA Today, 2/23/99, p. 6A, paid for by the Republican National Committee), GOP Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott and GOP Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert say that "Over the last four years, our nation has been on the right track."

If that is true, let's re-elect Bill Clinton and throw the GOP into the ash can of history where it has earned its place.

Reinforcing the message of that full-page ad, The Washington Times reports (2/24/99, p. 1) that "Republicans in Congress, in a role reversal, are pushing a $40 billion boost in federal education spending over the next five years while a top Senate Democrat wonders how the increase will be funded.

"Senate Budget Committee Chairman Pete V. Domenici, New Mexico Republican, wants to increase federal spending on education by about 53 percent next year — or $8 billion each year for five years...."

"‘I think our caucus will support that,’ said Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, Texas Republican. ‘We want to get into helping the states.’"

Albert Hunt sarcastically noted in The Wall Street Journal (2/25/99, p. A19) that the "full-page political ad in USA Today this week had the predictable buzz words. It's time for politicians to ‘move on’ to a real agenda that starts with ‘saving Social Security’ and ‘creating the world's best schools.’ The focus should be on helping ‘working people.’

"A message from Ted Kennedy and Dick Gephardt or the AFL/CIO? Wrong. It was an ad from the Republican National Committee signed by congressional GOP leaders Trent Lott and Dennis Hastert."

JAMES CARVILLE LIKES KINDER GENTLER GOP

"‘I finally can become a Republican,’ gloats James Carville, the quintessential yellow-dog Democrat, upon seeing the USA Today advertisement.

"This is a graphic illustration of how the GOP and the conservative movement have lost control of the political agenda and are battling on Democratic terrain. They are relegated to an echo rather than a choice, camouflaging their intentions with a coating more associated with their Democratic opposition. It has a familiar ring...."

"[T]he Republicans are in full retreat on the 10% tax cut, which itself is a pale shadow of their earlier calls for even bigger reductions or for a flat tax or national sale tax. Along with the small band of GOP moderates, even some conservatives, like Florida Rep. Joe Scarborough, label the tax cut plan a ‘loser.’"

Representative Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, was a guest on the February 21 edition of Fox News Sunday:

TONY SNOW: "The president yesterday on [his] National Radio address said, you know, ‘We need federal government money to lower student-teacher ratios, to rebuild schools, and all that stuff.’ And he said, ‘Republicans may not want to do that, but I do.’" ...

REP. DENNIS HASTERT: "We're going to move a bill in the House in the middle of March that basically says, ‘Let's have some flexibility. Let's take these federal dollars, let's put them into the local school boards and the state governors, who govern education in their state, give them the flexibility to use those dollars so that we can put the dollars in the classroom.’"

TONY SNOW: "So what you're saying is more money for education, no more money for the Department of Education? ... So do you think you ought to cut off the Department of Education?"

REP. DENNIS HASTERT: "No, I'm not saying that. There's a reason. We've been through that route before." ...

TONY SNOW: "...there's talk now of sending troops to Kosovo. ... Do you think they have a strategy for Kosovo?"

REP. DENNIS HASTERT: "Yes, I think they do."

TONY SNOW: "So you support it, you support the administration's policy?"

REP. DENNIS HASTERT: "Well, I want to see peace in that area. I think..."

TONY SNOW: "Well, is the administration going about it the right way?"

REP. DENNIS HASTERT: "I'm not going to criticize the administration. I'm not the secretary of state. They have their plan, what they think they need to do. They have laid it out, and they need to be able to execute it, and I'm going to give them the benefit of that doubt." ...

TONY SNOW: "So are you going to be the Republican leader or the bipartisan leader?"

REP. DENNIS HASTERT: "Well, maybe Republican, because I stand for Republican values. But I think there's good ideas that come up on both sides of the aisle, and when they are good ideas and people want to support them, we ought to do it on a bipartisan basis."

The Sunday Washington Post (2/21/99, p. A4) reports that "Senators of both parties say Lott performed with a high degree of dexterity, finesse and parliamentary street smarts in leading the Senate through the trial without the fractious partisanship that marked the impeachment proceedings in the House....

"‘He played a unifying, balancing civilizing role,’ said Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.)."

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) said "Lott ‘ran it smoothly as could be expected under the circumstances.’"

"Lott consulted virtually every day with Minority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.), strengthening their collegial but sometimes scratchy relations....

"At times, he allowed the Senate to edge toward a precipice — in which bipartisanship appeared on the verge of collapse — and then helped find the path back to safety usually with Daschle at his side...."

"Almost entrepreneurial in style, Lott encouraged free-lance operations — such as an abbreviated trial plan floated by Lieberman and Sen. Slade Gorton (R-Wash.). Such moves seemed at first to be chaos-in-the-making but turned out to be essential steps in an evolving process aimed at Lott's bottom line: ending the trial as soon as possible...."

THE TRAINS RAN ON TIME, BUT JUSTICE WAS NOT SERVED

"[H]e wound up on the losing side in voting to convict Clinton of perjury and obstruction of justice. But he avoided an unseemly spectacle and came within minutes of meeting the deadline of high noon, Feb. 12, that he had set for a vote even before the trial started...."

"‘The trial was viewed right from the start as something different: not a Republican agenda or Democratic agenda but a Senate agenda, a different role, and I believe Senator Lott recognized this,’ Daschle said in an interview after the vote. ‘We've bonded to some extent,’ he added."

Forget their rhetoric and their platforms –– their recorded roll call votes show where the GOP leadership really stands

Excerpted from Howard Phillips Issues & Strategy Bulletin of December 15, 1998

RECORDED ROLL CALL VOTES REVEAL BELIEFS OF SENATE GOP LEADERS

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