Nation IN BRIEF : WASHINGTON STATE : Health Plan Timing Divides Governors

State governors, at their convention in Seattle, disagreed along party lines over setting a date for federal action revising medical care systems. The governors unanimously approved an overall policy position, but there was a partisan split on the time limit. Florida’s Gov. Lawton Chiles, a Democrat pushing for a Jan. 1, 1994, deadline, said: “The Republicans seem to think they have to protect their President. We Democrats didn’t feel a similar need to protect the Democratic Congress.” The vote on Chiles’ amendment was 19 (Democrats) to 17 (Republicans), far short of the two-thirds majority required to amend the statement.