Republican leaders hope to pass that bill by next week.
The money to fund the U.S. portion of NATO's military and humanitarian effort in the Balkans is slated to come out of this year Social Security surplus, a key factor in the Senate's ultimate appropriation. Senators from both parties are reluctant to spend that money because of their many public pledges to save the surplus to shore up the retirement system. And Republican leaders are saying they may develop a compromise that would remove the military readiness add-ons from the Kosovo bill and put them on another appropriation bill Clinton supports. The other bill, which contains aid for victims of Hurricane Mitch and assistance to American farmers hurt by low commodity prices, has been hung up in Congress for weeks. Emphasizing the difficulty of vetoing money for a military pay raise while troops are in combat, the White House is urging Congress to pass the appropriations request without a bitter debate over military readiness by cutting the bill and adding aid for U.S. farmers and Central America.