me the first elected president in U.S. history to be impeached. On Jan. 7, 1999, the Senate trial to remove Clinton from office began. It ended on Feb. 6, 1999, with neither article gaining a simple majority (46-54, 50-50). After the vote Clinton returned to efforts directed toward reforming the health-care system and determining how best to handle the budget surplus. In his final year in office, Clinton still had to deal with matters pertaining to the scandal that led to his impeachment. A committee of the Arkansas supreme court, for example, recommended that Clinton's right to practice law in the state should be revoked because of his "serious misconduct" in a sexual harassment case brought by a former state employee, Paula Jones. Clinton had to devote some of his time to fighting the recommendation that he be disbarred in Arkansas. The president also spent considerable time in his final year in office battling the Republican majorities in Congress over a host of issues. He vetoed GOP-passed bills on the repeal of estate taxes and the "marriage penalty" (so-called because of unfavorable tax outcomes for some married couples). Clinton offered the GOP a trade: marriage penalty relief in return for his prescription drug benefit plan, which would bring relief to consumers of prescription drugs; but the Republicans ignored the offer. Clinton also battled the GOP over a so-called Patient's Bill of Rights (intended to address consumers' grievances regarding health maintenance organizations) and gun control measures. One of the president's more controversial moves was to order the release of oil from the nation's strategic oil reserve in an attempt to lower home heating costs. Clinton justified the action as necessary given a huge increase in oil prices, but Republicans charged that this was a political ploy designed to aid Vice Pres. Al Gore's chances in the 2000 presidential race. President Clinton and the GOP-led Congress did come together...
