Nevada delegates agree: Use projected surplus to erase national debt

Benjamin Grove

Friday, Jan. 28, 2000 | 11:23 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Nevada's four members of Congress agreed with a central theme in President Clinton's State of the Union address on Thursday -- use the nation's stunning projected budget surplus to erase the national debt within 13 years.

"I'm willing to look at small, selected tax cuts," Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev., said after the speech he watched from the House chamber floor. "But in my view we should seize the moment and this historic opportunity to pay down the debt."

The Nevada delegation sounded a note of caution after Clinton rattled off a laundry list of proposals that would cost billions.

Clinton "left no stone unturned," Bryan said with a chuckle. "It was a tour de force, let's put it that way."

Even Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., a strong Clinton-Gore ally, agreed that the president had called for a lot of spending projects for a Congress that seems inclined to use surpluses for debt reduction.

"We've got to take a look at all of these proposals," Reid said after the address. "We need more than just a few lines about each of them."

Reid, Bryan and Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., agreed with several of Clinton's highlighted plans, including his call for a patient's bill of rights aimed at better protecting people in health maintenance organizations.

They plan to support his proposals for Medicare coverage for prescription drugs and an easing of the marriage penalty tax.

"I stand to make millions," Berkley, who married last year, joked.

Bryan said he was "pleased" Clinton mentioned protecting the privacy of people's personal records at a time when data technology is rapidly changing. Bryan has been fighting with some frustration to pass laws that would protect financial information, such as bank and credit records.

The Nevada Democrats joined their party colleagues in more than 100 breaks for applause during the 89-minute speech, including a rousing standing ovation after Clinton urged Congress to pass the patients bill of rights.

Many Republicans, several of whom trickled out of the House chambers during the speech, sat motionless.

"I don't want some (HMO) middleman telling me what procedures the doctor can provide," Berkley said, shortly before the speech began. "That's between me and my doctor." Rep. Jim Gibbons, Nevada's lone Republican in Congress, said he also agreed with several Clinton proposals, including the tax cuts.

The former fighter pilot said he was particularly cheered by Clinton's call to boost military personnel salaries and to invest in high-tech military equipment and training.

Gibbons also seemed to like Clinton's Medicare plan.

"Poor seniors should not have to choose between food and prescription drugs," said Gibbons, who watched the address at home in Reno.

Gibbons differed with the president on several points. He said some of Clinton's education plans, such as class-size reduction proposals that Nevada has already enacted, injected the federal government into classrooms that should be state- and district-run.

Gibbons liked Clinton's call for stricter enforcement of current gun laws, but bristled at the president's surprise proposal to require licenses for handgun buyers.

"I disagree with him, and I think that's an issue that most Nevadans disagree with him on also," Gibbons said.

Reid, the Senate Minority Whip, said the new gun licensing plan's chances were "doubtful."

Gibbons, like many Republicans, also was wary of Clinton's new hate crime proposal.

"I want to see if what (Clinton) is proposing is better than what we already have on the books," Gibbons said.

Gibbons pledged that Republicans in Congress would sift through Clinton's heavy agenda and enact some new laws, even in a shortened Congressional session during this election year.

"We are committed to looking at each and every one of his proposals one at a time," Gibbons said.

Berkley said Clinton's initiatives "help me to help my constituency."

"The repair, renovation and building of new schools is a major priority for Southern Nevada," said Berkley, who often tells her colleagues that she is from the fastest-growing Congressional district in the country.

"Hiring new teachers is a priority for me. Technology in schools is the future of higher education."

Clinton did not specifically mention his plan that would require casinos to keep tabs on gamblers who owe child support and seize their winnings, part of his "responsible fatherhood" initiative.

The Nevada delegation is reluctant to back the plan that would put new requirements on casinos. Of Nevada's four members, Reid has shown the most willingness to implement the plan.

"I think if somebody owes child support and they win in a casino, we should be able to get their winnings," Reid said Wednesday after the White House released the proposal.

As expected, Clinton also did not mention the hottest Nevada issue facing Congress this year: a proposal to ship the nation's nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

The Senate next week could begin debating a bill outlining the logistics of moving waste to the central storage site now under study in Nevada.