He was one of many empathetic politicians to parade along the broken levees of the Midwest. As White House aides told it, Clinton left the G-7 summit in Tokyo dead tired and determined to take time of in Hawaii with Hillary Rodham Clinton and their daughter, Chelsea. And as staffers told it, few among the president’s entourage fully grasped the political dangers rising with the muddy Mississippi. Then the news media began to intercut footage of bedraggled flood victims with footage of their president in the surf-and Vice President Al Gore, appearing on a Sunday morning talk show, was badgered about the unseemly symbolism of Clinton’s vacation by NBC’s Tim Russert. Political disaster–perhaps a replay of George Bush’s hesitant response to Hurricane Andrew–loomed. “We put it to [the president] and he said, ‘I have to go, certainly’,” an aide recalled.
In Washington, the eight-state catastrophe was already disrupting congressional deliberations on the deficit–a make-or-break moment for Clinton. Suddenly 16 senators and at least two dozen members of Congress–including Rep. Richard Gephardt, the House majority leader–had urgent business back home. Many ran for the airport, determined to be seen on the levees and support the outcry for federal disaster relief. By mid-week Clinton was proposing $2.5 billion in emergency aid in a supplemental appropriations bill, and House leaders promised speedy action.
Nobody really knows how much the cleanup will cost. Some in Clinton’s own party, like Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa, promptly denounced the $2.5 billion as inadequate, while others, like Sen. Bob Kerrey Of Nebraska, worried that the rush to dump tax dollars on the disaster zone “puts those of us who are trying to reduce the deficit in a very weak position.” Republicans were also split: Sen. Dave Durenberger of Minnesota sniped at Clinton’s failure to subtract an equivalent amount from federal spending, while Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa reasoned that disaster aid would be only a one-time hit on the Treasury. “You don’t play politics with people’s misery,” said Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole, apparently signaling a temporary truce in his guerrilla war against the administration.
Some pols are already comparing the flood to Hurricane Andrew–which means, to them, that the Midwest should get a comparable amount ($7.5 billion) of disaster aid. Meanwhile, some in Congress worry that Clinton’s bill could become a legislators’ Christmas tree–loaded with amendments for unrelated programs and subsidies,
But even if the worst predictions about its costs are home out, there is no rush for the emergency bill. According to John Webb of the Congressional Budget Office, most of the costs won’t be paid out until after the end of the federal fiscal year on Sept. 30. Webb says this year’s budget contains contingency funds to handle most of the current disaster relief until then and, “from a strictly budgetary point of view, there is no need for a supplemental” appropriation. Clinton and Congress, in short, have yielded to the temptation to be seen as doing something even if it’s mostly for show.
