Lott Says Deal Is Near on Health Insurance Reform

WASHINGTON —  Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott said Sunday that he is “very close” to striking a deal with the White House on a health insurance reform bill and believes that the Senate may soon vote on raising the minimum wage, which has also been caught in partisan gridlock.

Saying he is eager to get legislation moving in the bogged-down Senate, Lott cited health insurance reform, the minimum wage, repeal of the latest gasoline tax and a new review of the U.S. troop presence in Bosnia-Herzegovina as priorities now that he has assumed leadership of the chamber from GOP presidential hopeful Bob Dole.

The Mississippi Republican, whom many consider more ideological than Dole, insisted that he is a firm believer in compromise and negotiation and that the chance for important agreements with the White House is great.

“The iron is hot” on health care reform, Lott said on CBS-TV’s “Face the Nation.” “If we get it done this week, it will happen. If we don’t, it may never happen.”

The measure being discussed would guarantee that workers can keep their health insurance when they change jobs and would protect workers from being denied coverage because of existing medical conditions.

Some Republicans have insisted on a provision for so-called medical savings accounts: tax-free savings that would be used to pay for routine health care bills for people who also buy catastrophic insurance. But the Clinton administration has contended that the accounts would prompt younger and healthier people to abandon traditional health insurance plans, driving up costs for those who remain.

Lott said he is willing to compromise on a version that “doesn’t necessarily include” the accounts, and added: “I think we’re very close to a deal.” But he complained that some Democrats have been seeking too hard a bargain. He said he hoped President Clinton will help broker a solution.

The White House has indicated it might accept a small pilot project on medical savings accounts as a compromise.

Lott said the proposal to raise the minimum wage is another item caught in the “obstruction tactics,” filibusters and political maneuvering that dominated Dole’s final weeks as Senate leader.

To break the deadlock on the Democratic plan to raise the $4.25-an-hour minimum wage by 90 cents, Lott said, he has made “a very fair proposal” to Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.).

Lott said the measure would include tax breaks for small businesses hurt by rising labor costs but would omit a provision, strongly opposed by labor unions, that would allow employers and employees to form groups to talk about quality, efficiency and safety.

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He declined to give further details of the compromise offer but said the minimum wage issue “is a big Mack truck sitting in the road, blocking things we need to do for the good of the country. Now I’d like to find a way to move that truck down the road, or set it on a sidetrack while we continue to work and get things done that we need to do.”

A proposal to repeal the 4.3-cent tax that was added to the cost of a gallon of gasoline several years ago will also be revived, he said. “I am sure that we will have that opportunity [for repeal] as an amendment or free-standing bill.”

On foreign policy, Lott said he is willing to admit that the 6-month-old U.S. operation in Bosnia has not turned out as badly as he thought it would but that he still believes it could be headed for a “quagmire.”

Asked about indications that the deadline for a U.S. troop withdrawal may be softening, he said: “I would like for us to have some Armed Services Committee hearings. I would like for us to begin asking questions about what is happening militarily, what is not happening politically” with government reconstruction in Bosnia.