THE WEEK: FEBRUARY 26-MARCH 4

FEBRUARY 26-MARCH 4

NATION

The G.O.P. Loses a Big One

After weeks of debate and a last-minute round of desperate wheeling, dealing and politicking over Social Security--the perennial political hot potato--the Senate failed to pass a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution. The Republican leadership came up one vote shy of the two-thirds majority required when they failed to persuade the one Republican holdout, Oregon's Mark Hatfield, or either of North Dakota's two Democratic Senators to switch sides. The Democratic leadership had little time to celebrate its victory, however; the day after the vote, Colorado Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell, a longtime supporter of the amendment,...

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