THE WEEK: APRIL 30-MAY 6

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NATION

Still Searching

While Oklahoma City bombing suspect Timothy McVeigh continued to cool his heels in a federal prison, refusing to talk to authorities, law-enforcement officials were growing frustrated in their nationwide manhunt for the elusive second suspect, John Doe No. 2. Federal agents raided a small Missouri motel to capture and question a pair of drifters whose travels before and after the bombing paralleled McVeigh's. But the two men were quickly released for lack of evidence, the parallel taste in small towns and cheap motels an apparent coincidence. In Oklahoma City rescuers ended their search for bodies and survivors. The final toll: 167 people dead, including 19 children.

Presidential Tough Talk

Continuing the campaign he began in the aftermath of the Oklahoma City tragedy to still what he has called voices of hatred and paranoia, President Clinton used a commencement speech at Michigan State University to address militia groups nationwide that advocate violence. "How dare you call yourselves patriots and heroes?" demanded the President. "There is no right to resort to violence when you don't get your way. There is no right to kill people . Those who claim such rights are wrong and un-American."

U.S. to Cubans: Stand in Line

Following secret negotiations with Cuba, the Clinton Administration announced the undoing of three decades of Cuban refugee policy. From now on, Cuban boat people will no longer be given special entry rights to the U.S., but will instead be returned to their homeland, where they will have to apply for admission to the U.S. through normal channels. As a humanitarian gesture, however (and in yet another policy reversal), most of the 21,000 refugees being detained at Guantanamo will be allowed to enter the U.S.

Medicare: You First

President Clinton and Republican leaders spent the week sniping over Medicare. Against a background of partisan budget wrangling, the President declined G.O.P. invitations to come up with a bipartisan solution to the program's ballooning costs. While the White House took the political cover of gravely insisting that Medicare remedies be linked to overall health-care reforms and a master G.O.P. budget plan, the President's strategists were not about to offer Republicans a hand with their balanced-budget/tax-cut promises by agreeing to deep slashes in Medicare.

It's Tougher in the Senate

Republicans learned that the second 100 days may be more difficult in the Senate. G.O.P. leaders failed to get enough votes to halt a de facto filibuster over a legal-reform bill that, like a version passed by the House, would cap punitive damages in all civil lawsuits. With the President calling the measure the "Drunk Drivers Protection Act of 1995" and threatening a veto, G.O.P. Senators regrouped to rework the bill.

Dr. Foster Comes Calling

Dr. Henry Foster, President Clinton's controversial nominee for Surgeon General, furthered his cause with a plainspoken appearance at his Senate confirmation hearing, during which he explained that his inconsistent recollections about the number of abortions he has performed over the years were nothing more than "an honest mistake." Foster still faces tough floor opposition from G.O.P. presidential hopefuls Bob Dole and Phil Gramm.

Whitewater Again