Veto

A bill that would require more screening of Maryland children for lead poisoning is endangered by a veto threat, prompting health advocates to accuse the Schaefer administration of a political betrayal.The screening measure passed on the last day of the 1994 General Assembly session in tandem with a better-known administration bill, which would shield landlords from costly tenant lawsuits provided certain repairs are made in the oldest rental properties.Children's advocates say the screening bill, sponsored by Del. James W. Hubbard, a Prince George's County Democrat, was the price of their support for the administration bill, which had been weakened by Senate amendments tacked on at the behest of Baltimore's largest landlords.

WHITE PLAINS, Md. -- President Clinton embarked yesterday on the road to a veto strategy -- one his advisers acknowledge has political risks -- by pledging to reject a measure to cut $16.4 billion already authorized to be spent this year.In vowing to turn down the first of many budget-cutting measures the Republican-controlled Congress is expected to send his way this year, Mr. Clinton would be casting the first veto of his presidency.White House officials conceded that, depending on how the public perceives the veto, the president is in danger of seeming unwilling to make the tough choices -- choices Republicans have already made -- toward putting the federal government on the road to a balanced budget.

WASHINGTON -- The administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency said yesterday that he would veto construction of the Two Forks Dam in Colorado, a large water project sought by developers and opposed by environmentalists.The administrator, William K. Reilly, said in an interview that the proposed $1 billion dam, which would be the most expensive dam in U.S. history entirely financed by a state and localities, would cause "unacceptable environmental damage."The project was intended to augment long-term water supplies for Denver and surrounding communities, but Mr. Reilly said there were other, more acceptable sources ofwater that would not destroy valuable wetlands, wildlife areas and a scenic canyon.

"Mega-bars" for Baltimore's waterfront got a mega-boost yesterday from Gov. Parris N. Glendening.The governor is vetoing a bill that would have banned large new waterfront bars from Little Italy to Canton, aides announced yesterday. The decision angered community leaders and small-business owners, who complain of drunken rowdiness in Southeast Baltimore.A few politically influential property owners could benefit from the veto of the mega-bar bill, which clears an obstacle from at least one landowner's proposed restaurant-bar in Canton.

WASHINGTON -- President Clinton kept his promise to the NATO allies yesterday by vetoing legislation that calls for lifting the arms embargo on Bosnia, a move that he insists would make a bad situation worse."

WASHINGTON -- Exercising a power coveted by White House occupants since Ulysses S. Grant, President Clinton invoked his new line-item veto authority for the first time yesterday to delete three tax-related items from the balanced-budget package that Congress approved and Clinton signed into law last week.The president said the three items would have unjustifiably benefited a few groups and were just the kind of special favors the line-item veto was meant to combat."From now on, presidents will be able to say no to wasteful spending or tax loopholes even as they say yes to vital legislation," Clinton proclaimed in an Oval Office ceremony.

WASHINGTON -- President Bush is poised to issue his first veto today, breaking a more than five-year dry spell to quash a measure passed by the Senate yesterday that would loosen his strict regulations on the funding of embryonic stem cell research. Bush's action would end the longest veto lull for a president in 200 years and likely doom, at least for now, congressional attempts to expand a type of research that some scientists argue is vital to finding cures for diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.

The Maryland Senate gave final approval yesterday to a bill that would make it easier for voters to cast absentee ballots in state elections. The Senate voted 33-14 to override a veto by Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. of a bill (HB 622) that eliminates conditions - such as illness, death of a family member or enrollment in an out-of-state college - now required before voters can obtain absentee ballots. Supporters of the measure said it would increase voter participation, but Ehrlich and other critics argued that the potential for voter fraud outweighed any benefits.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Bush administration threatened yesterday a veto of a $283 billion military spending bill if approved by the House, contending the package would hamper U.S. efforts against Iraq in the Persian Gulf.Pentagon spokesman Pete Williams raised the veto possibility as the House took up the military blueprint for fiscal 1991 in a climate of diminishing concern about the Soviet Union but growing worry about Iraqi President Saddam Hussein."If the House bill is enacted in its present form, then the president's senior advisers and the secretary would recommend that the president veto it," Mr. Williams said.