WASHINGTON WATCH: GOP KEEPS BALANCED-BUDGET PROMISE

The House Democratic leadership tried every scare tactic and parliamentary maneuver to sidetrack and derail the first plank of the Republicans' Contract With America. But in a historic vote Thursday night, nearly all Republicans and a sizable group of Democratic defectors joined together to pass a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution, which would discourage Congress from spending more money than it raises. The amendment needed a two-thirds majority to pass, and it got that with a little room to spare. Final tally:300 in favor, 132 against. Now the legislation goes to the Senate, which is also expected to pass the measure after a tough debate.

Not all was smooth sailing for the Republicans, however. Democrats, led by Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri, charged GOP leaders with a secret plan to balance the budget by gutting Social Security. It was the same tactic Bill Clinton employed before the fall elections with miserable results, and it indicated once again the vacuity in current Democratic thinking. Rep. Bill Emerson of Cape Girardeau was one of many, including several Democrats, who spoke out against Gephardt's attack.

"In my 14 years in Congress," Emerson said, "my record has demonstrated my strong commitment to the senior citizens of this country. I resent the attempt by some in this chamber to scare senior citizens with misinformation about how the balanced-budget amendment might affect Social Security. There is nothing in the balanced-budget amendment that says that the Social Security Trust Fund will be cut or that Social Security will be reduced for anyone. The fact is that Congress can balance the budget without touching Social Security."

Actually, politicians on both sides of the aisle recognized that the Social Security scare was a red herring tactic unlikely to prevail. Of greater concern to the Republican leadership was a debate within their own ranks regarding a three-fifths requirement to increase taxes. The balanced-budget amendment promoted by the Contract With America promised such a clause. And, in fact, the Republican House had already implemented the requirement through a rules change on the first day of the new Congress. But in recent weeks it became clear that including the provision in a balanced-budget amendment jeopardized the entire measure among moderates in both the House and Senate, whose votes were necessary for passage. This put House Republicans in the sticky position of deciding whether they should break ranks slightly with the contract, and open themselves up to the charge of compromising their principles, or risk the probability of no balanced-budget amendment at all.

With two dozen GOP freshmen threatening to vote against an amendment not including tax limitation, and Rush Limbaugh egging them on, it appeared for a time that the amendment was in question. In the end, however, the freshmen decided to trust that the American people would understand, and they rallied to the achievable.

CLINTON'S RAMBLING TALK REINFORCES THE IMAGE OF AN INDECISIVE LEADER

In other news, President Clinton, who squarely puts himself on all sides of the balanced-budget debate, delivered his second State of the Union address this week. It was a rambling hour-and-a-half affair that reinforced his image as a leader who can't make up his mind. Liberal Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen fired off the best line afterwards when he described the speech as "Clinton at a buffet table, eating everything in sight."

The president has real problems focusing his priorities, and word from the White House is that each time he sat down to edit the address, he actually ended up adding to it. That's a shame, for the process of writing a speech can sometimes help a political leader define his agenda. Unfortunately, the result of this speech was to leave the president's supporters and opponents more confused about his priorities. An incredible accomplishment, actually, if you think about it.

Jon K. Rust is a Washington-based writer for the Southeast Missourian.