A
Wednesday, November 24,1993
The Battalion
Page 9
Brady Bill delays break of Congress
Lawmakers to debate gun sale waiting period next week
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Deadlock
over the Brady handgun-control
bill stymied Congress' adjourn
ment, and the Senate Democratic
leader summoned lawmakers for
a post-Thanksgiving effort to sal
vage the bill this year.
Senators negotiated into the
early evening Tuesday and then
quit for the night, but scheduled
another session for Wednesday.
There was a glimmer of hope
for Brady backers and senators
who don't want to be dragged
back before the end of the year.
"What we can do, if Republi
cans agree, is pass the conference
report, as is, with an understanding
we would have a supplemental
piece of legislation when we come
back" in January, said Sen.
Howard Metzenbaum, D-Ohio, the
Senate's chief sponsor of the bill.
He would not disclose any
specifics of the discussions or even
if that scenario were on the table.
Earlier in the day. President
Clinton held out hope for compro
mise on what was to be the last
day of the 1993 session, saying, "I
believe in miracles."
After fruitless debate. Majority
Leader George Mitchell said, "1 ex
pect as of now the Senate will re
turn next week to renew efforts to
pass the bill, which calls for a five-
business-day waiting period and
background check on people who
want to buy handguns.
"We will try again on next
Tuesday, and in all likelihood
again on next Wednesday," he
said, reflecting the difficulty that
Brady bill supporters have had in
putting together the 60 votes
needed to cut off debate.
The Republicans were chafing
anew from headlines blaming
them for blocking the bill Mon
day, but Senate Republican
Leader Bob Dole said at a news
conference, "I don't know of any
political fallout."
It was the negative headlines,
followed by phone calls and let
ters from constituents that helped
push a number of Republicans
last week to seek a compromise
after they had blocked the bill
from an up-or-down vote twice.
Ultimately, a version of the bill
passed the Senate late Saturday,
63-36. That bill said the waiting
period would phase out after four
years, unless the attorney general
extended it to five years. The
House passed a five-year "sun
set" provision.
Then came the fractious House-
Senate conference that chose the
five-year House version.
Mitchell called the five-year
versus four-plus-one year sunset
provision is "a distinction without
a difference in practical terms."
Dole said he would try to
amend the bill, something that
would require the full House to
return and vote.
If the "people on the other side
really want the Brady bill, it can
be gotten very quickly," Dole
said. "We were quite flexible on
Saturday, and for being flexible,
we got shafted."
The Senate version also lost a
provision that would have al
lowed the waiting period to phase
out even earlier if the attorney
general, using specified stan
dards, deemed a national instant
background check system suffi
ciently operational.
Ironically, that came from a
National Rifle Association-backed
amendment to the House bill that
also ended the waiting period af
ter five years. Originally, neither
chamber's legislation had a "sun
set" provision.
Earlier, Clinton met with Dole
and Mitchell at the White House
and said, "We're workjng on
something today."
"I believe in miracles," he said.
"I believe we may still get this
worked out."
Russian leaders to vote on new national emblem
The Associated Press
MOSCOW — The Communist hammer-
and-sickle may be replaced with a new na
tional emblem reaching even further back
into Russian history: a double-headed eagle
that for centuries proclaimed the military
might of the czars.
A commission to name a new national em
blem rejected proposals such as bears and
birch trees in favor of the golden, double
headed eagle on red background.
"The idea was to restore Russia's historical
heraldry, even if its elements were unrelated
to the current political situation," Georgy Vil-
inbakhov, head of the national heraldic ser
vice, said Tuesday.
The design must now be approved by
President Boris Yeltsin and parliament.
The government has wanted a new crest to
replace the hammer-and-sickle, symbol of the
peasants and workers, since the Soviet col
lapse more than two years ago.
After the abortive hard-line coup in
1991, elated citizens pulled down statues of
Lenin and other Communist luminaries.
There have also been proposals to remove
Lenin's embalmed body from its Red
Square mausoleum.
Yeltsin also replaced the red Soviet flag
with a white, red and blue banner that also
dates back to pre-revolutionary Russia.
In the spirit of the new, capitalist times,
the government hopes to make money by
selling the right to use the new crest in trade
marks and commercial logos, said commis
sion chairman Rudolf Pikhoya.
The eagle holds a scepter in its right talon
and an orb in its left, he said. In the center of
the crest is an image of Russia's historic
guardian, St. George, slaying the dragon.
The double-headed eagle has already
made an unofficial comeback, adorning many
business logos and even appearing — with
out its crowns — on some Russian coins.
Pikhoya said the historic bird would re
place the hammer-and-sickle that still
adorns the badges and buttons of millions
of Russian servicemen and police officers. It
will also be emblazoned on flags flown at
Russian embassies abroad and on the presi
dent's official flag.
Yeltsin and the Russian
Parliament could do away
with the Communist
hammer-and-sickle with a
vote for a new national
emblem.
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