In a noncommittal reply Howley suggested that Heber should publish the hymns, although he proposed to withhold episcopal approval until public reaction could be gauged.
That would have required officials to explain clearly what damage might be done by disclosure, before winning agreement from the proposed "information commissioner" to withhold it.Other provisions of the bill should also make it more difficult to prise information from reluctant officials.
"We can't price the middle class and everybody working to get into the middle class out of college," President Obama said two years ago when proposing a plan to withhold federal money from schools that raise tuition too quickly.
Representative C. W. Bill Young of Florida, the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, urged the Clinton administration today to withhold a proposed $4 million package of aid to Yemen until it is assured that the government will assist the investigation and do noth ing to harbor terrorists.
Mark Thorn, an I.N.S. spokesman, said the agency policy was to withhold comment on "proposed or passed legislation".
The votes to withhold approval were proposed by Monica Macovei, a center-right member from Romania who served as the parliament's rapporteur for the issue.
Among other provisions in the proposed legislation are measures allowing doctors to withhold from patients medical information that might encourage them to seek an abortion and prohibiting malpractice suits if the woman or the child suffers a health complication as a result of information being withheld.
One proposed solution, for the Scottish Premier League to withhold money from Hearts and pay it directly to the players, has been ruled out.
Other proposed changes went even further by allowing officials to withhold from the public nearly all documents they maintain.
The Democrats reversed their stance on the plan, proposed last month by County Executive Thomas S. Gulotta, a Republican, to withhold all $50 million in county sales tax revenue that Nassau now passes on to the five other municipalities, starting in 2003.
