As headaches related to the so-called Whitewater land development deal continued to multiply for Clinton, congressional Republicans stepped up political pressure by declaring they would block action on one of his federal appointees unless the White House agrees to hearings into the Whitewater affair.


Senator Alfonse D'Amato, a Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, said his party would block the nomination of Ricki Tigert to head the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which helps regulate the banking system, until the White House agrees to hearings on the Whitewater Arkansas land investment case and related business deals involving Clinton and his wife, Hillary.


The Republican election-year salvo followed a Washington Post report that Treasury Department officials twice informed the White House last fall of the status of a federal investigation of Whitewater-related matters involving the Clintons' partner in that decade-old business venture.


"As nearly as I can determine, no one has actually done anything wrong or attempted to improperly influence any government action," Clinton said.


"But I think it would have been better if the meetings and conversations hadn't occurred."