Congressman Steve Buyer will travel a lot over the next six days.

With the election only one week away, the two-term Republican will be on the stump throughout his district, which covers a large portion of northwest and north-central Indiana.

Buyer made a quick stop in Warsaw Tuesday before flying to Williamsport and West Lebanon. While here, he gave his assessment of the recently concluded federal budget agreement and gave some insights as to what lay ahead for the 106th Congress that convenes in January - a Congress he hopes to be a member of.

He said the $1.2 trillion omnibus spending bill funding signed into law last week, while onerous to some, was in the best interests of the country.

"I supported the budget agreement with the president because, for all his problems, he is still the president and it is relevant," he said. "A shutdown wouldn't have been healthy for the country.

"You can't measure these things in terms of wins and losses. We have to look at what's best for the country and put partisanship aside," he said. "Politics is ultimately the art of compromise, and this was the best we could get from this president."

Buyer said some "victories" the congressional Republicans were able to extract from the agreement were educational funds able to "pass-through" directly to local school districts with no Department of Education strings attached; $1 billion for increased security measures for U.S. embassies around the world; and more funds for military readiness.

"Our defense operational accounts were getting very low, so we are beefing those up," he said.

Buyer said farmers will benefit from the Freedom to Farm Bill sponsored by Sen. Richard Lugar.

"The Asian financial crisis came at a time that has really hurt our farmers, so that bill will give them a safety net," he said.

Buyer also took the Clinton administration to task for trying to make the projected budget surplus a partisan issue, when the president's and Congress' positions were really not that disparate.

"The good story about the surplus is the president says 100 percent of the surplus goes to save Social Security and the House says 90 percent - so the story is that we agree that it should be at least 90 percent," Buyer said.

He said the House Republicans are in a strong position to ensure the solvency of Social Security, given their work to return Medicare to sound financial footing.

"Republicans have a lot of credibility in terms of saving Social Security because it was our proposals that saved the Medicare program," Buyer said. "We have to maintain our commitment to the seniors of the country, that they will be able to receive their benefits as promised.

"But we also have to structure the program where the large number of baby boomers are able to provide for their retirement years as well," he said.

Buyer, who serves on the House Judiciary Committee, the body that will initially determine whether the allegations against the president are substantiated and whether they are serious enough to warrant impeachment, was reluctant to give his views on the issue. But he did caution his colleagues to maintain a nonpartisan approach during the deliberations.

"I won't get dragged into the debate of whether perjury was or was not committed, nor whether perjury warrants impeachment," he said. "We (on the committee) need to seek the truth and then make our determination."

He said the committee can easily finish its work by the end of the year if members on either side of the aisle commit themselves to fairness and to keeping the scope of their deliberations narrow.

"We have too many Democrats on the committee acting as defense attorneys and too many Republicans acting like prosecutors," Buyer said. "We need to do the people's business not through public hearings but through reasoned, judicial temperament in reviewing the facts of the charges and the Constitution.

"If the facts don't support the charges of perjury, abuse of power and obstruction of justice, then we need to make that determination fairly and quickly, and then move on," he said. "If the facts show otherwise, then we need to go on to the next step."

And if the charges are substantiated? Buyer declined to answer directly how he would vote, but referred to the legal and political traditions of the nation.

"I will say that we currently have 114 people in federal prison today for committing perjury in federal courts," he said. "And part of our political heritage is that no one is above the law and we all have equal justice under that law once we walk through those courthouse doors." [[In-content Ad]]