THE WEEK: MAY 14-20

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NATION

BUDGET: ONE DOWN

By a vote of 238 to 193, G.O.P. leaders pushed their bold, seven-year balanced-budget plan through the House of Representatives. Democrats bitterly complained that the package of $1.4 trillion in spending cuts and $350 billion in tax cuts would sacrifice the needs of the middle and lower classes to benefit the wealthy; Republicans countered that the Democrats had no viable alternative.

CLINTON'S FIRST VETO?

President Clinton launched his own budget salvo when his Administration announced he would veto the first major set of G.O.P. spending cuts that both houses of Congress are expected to send to his desk: $16.4 billion worth of recisions from the current budget. Proposing a set of alternative cuts, the President said the G.O.P. package was unacceptable because it would slash education, environmental and crime-prevention programs at the same time that it spares road- and courthouse-construction projects.

CLOSING DOWN THE AVENUE

Clinton agreed, for the first time in history, to ban vehicular traffic from a two block stretch of Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House. The building is vulnerable to a truck bomb, like that used in Oklahoma, which could injure scores of people and seriously damage the structure. An estimated 26,000 cars and buses will have to be rerouted each day.

SAVED BY THE DEADLINE

Kenneth Starr, the independent counsel looking into allegations of wrongdoing in the Whitewater affair, has decided not to indict Presidential aide Bruce Lindsey on federal banking charges related to Clinton's 1990 gubernatorial re-election campaign. The statute of limitations on the charges runs out this week.

WATERED-DOWN WATER ACT

Backed by a powerful coalition of industrial, agricultural and state interests, the House adopted a broad dilution of the Clean Water Act, the legislation widely credited with cleaning up the nation's waterways. Proponents said the changes -- handing over more controls to states, reducing wetlands protection and requiring that greater weight be given to costs -- were needed to counter an overzealous EPA and other "environmental extremists." The Senate is expected to be less receptive to the bill, and Clinton has promised a veto.

NOW, A SOCIAL CONTRACT

With the blessings of House Speaker Newt Gingrich and other leading Republican conservatives, the Christian Coalition unveiled its "Contract with the American Family," a 10-point social and political program that the group wants Congress to enact. Among its controversial provisions: a constitutional amendment allowing prayer in schools and other public places, new limits on abortions, restrictions on computer and cable-TV access to sexually explicit materials and the abolition of federal aid for the arts.

RON BROWN'S TURN

Attorney General Janet Reno requested the appointment of yet another independent counsel -- her fourth -- to probe top Administration officials, this time Commerce Secretary Ron Brown. The counsel will look into, among other things, a business deal that apparently netted nearly $500,000 when Brown sold his interest in a firm in which he invested no money. Backed by the President, Brown denied wrongdoing and vowed to remain in the Cabinet.

PACKWOOD'S PACK OF TROUBLES