U.S.-MEXICO . . . FOES AT HOME, FRIENDS ABROAD

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Despite new flak in Congress for bypassing that body in fashioning his $20 billion Mexican rescue plan, President Clinton drew plaudits from U.S. and international investors. House Speaker Newt Gingrich and a few senior Democrats defended the president's move, but some members, such as Rep. Robert Menendez, (D-N.J), complained that Congress had been "shut out." Hard-right Republicans, meanwhile, are calling for an investigation of the Administration's role in Mexico's Dec. 20 decision to devalue the peso. Nonetheless, business leaders almost unanimously praised Clinton's move: International investors said the plan had likely staved off a worldwide financial crisis. Super-speculator George Soros, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland Monday, said inaction "would have had a knock-on effect throughout the world because investors would be shell-shocked."