Nevada delegation takes Clinton video in stride

WASHINGTON -- President Clinton's grand jury testimony echoed throughout the halls of Congress Monday, but staff members from Nevada's congressional delegation said they were treating the historic day no different than any other.

"It is a really, really busy time in Congress," said Jean Neal, chief of staff for Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev. "There is so much happening here that people cannot afford to stop and be consumed."

Congress still needs to vote on 12 spending bills before it adjourns in October or the federal government will have no money to continue operating.

Rep. Jim Gibbons was traveling throughout his district while Clinton's testimony was being broadcast but his Washington office was recording it, said his spokesman Robert Uithoven.

In a released statement, Gibbons said he has "complete faith" in the House Judiciary Committee to decide whether Congress should proceed forward with an impeachment inquiry about the president. Meanwhile, the Nevada Republican said he is going to focus on legislative matters.

"Despite the enormous and solemn responsibility we face in this matter, we haven't been distracted from constituent casework and working to protect Social Security, improve education, provide tax cuts, reduce crime and drug abuse, protect the environment and to solve other critical issues that affect Nevadan's lives," Gibbons said.

Uithoven said Gibbons' Reno office received a number of telephone calls from constituents who were watching the broadcast Monday morning. Uithoven said while most of the calls were negative toward Clinton, others expressed anger over the release of the video.

"We certainly could tell when there was a break in the tapes, that is when the phones begun to ring," Uithoven said. "We could tell there were a lot of Nevadans watching."

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., attended meetings in Las Vegas Monday as the president's testimony was being televised, said his spokeswoman Nancy Campanella. She said she "highly doubted" Reid watched the testimony.

Rep. John Ensign, R-Nev., said he was reserving comment on the president's testimony until he is able to spend more time reviewing it, said his spokesman Jack Finn.

All was quiet on Capitol Hill Monday because of the Jewish holiday Rosh Hashanah. The House was not in session and a handful of senators debated the bankruptcy reform bill. But with no votes scheduled in either chamber yesterday, most lawmakers were not expected to arrive back in Washington until early Tuesday.

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