TRADE PACT'S FUTURE UNCLEAR.(MAIN)

Byline: Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- The Clinton administration, which is scrambling to obtain congressional authority to negotiate new trade agreements, Tuesday tentatively endorsed a compromise trade bill emerging in the Senate Finance Committee.

``We don't agree with all of it, but in the main it's a constructive approach,'' U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky said of the compromise proposal following an appearance before a House trade subcommittee.

But while those comments appeared to boost the prospects for President Clinton's trade initiative in the Senate, House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., warned that the legislation ``is in …