U.S. Senate Rejects Plan for Immediate Vote on Clinton's Fate ����U.S. Senate Republicans on January 28 crushed a Democratic call for an immediate vote on President Bill Clinton's fate and adopted their own plan to allow public airing of former White House intern Monica Lewinsky's videotaped testimony at Clinton's impeachment trial. ����The rapid-fire developments on the Senate floor followed strict party lines after Senate leaders deadlocked in daylong efforts to negotiate a bipartisan timetable for the conclusion of the trial. ����The vote was 55 to 43 against a motion by Senator Tom Daschle, the Democratic leader, to go immediately to four final hours of debate and then vote on the two articles of impeachment accusing Clinton of perjury and obstruction of justice in connection with his relationship with Lewinsky. ����Before that, the Senate rejected Daschle's plan to limit to writing all records of the depositions of witnesses, preventing the videotaping the House Republican prosecutors want and the White House opposes. ����The Republicans then pushed through their rules -- 54-44 --which would permit videotaping of the questioning and leave open the possibility that it would be aired publicly. ����The voting came after hours of sparring between Republicans and Democrats over the way to conduct the final stages of the trial. ����Senator Trent Lott, the majority leader, put the rival plans to votes with a minimum of explanation, which prompted one of his colleagues to ask about details. ����Clinton is the first president in the U.S. to be subjected to a trial since President Andrew Johnson escaped conviction by one vote in 1868. A two-thirds vote of the Senate is required to convict Clinton and remove him from office, which most still consider to be unlikely. WorldNews 1999-01-30 Page3 Full Story in Chinese