Bill Would Add to Superfund
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WASHINGTON — A Senate committee Friday approved and sent to the floor a bill authorizing the Superfund program for cleanup of abandoned waste dumps to spend $2.2 billion more than the Reagan Administration requested.
The $7.5-billion bill renewing Superfund for five years was approved by the Environment and Public Works Committee on a 13-1 vote, with Sen. Steven D. Symms (R-Ida.) casting the only negative vote.
Symms said he favored spending only about $1 billion a year, close to the Administration proposal. “This is typical of what happens here in Washington. We have to go whole hog and we end up with a $200-billion deficit.”
Unless renewed, Superfund expires Sept. 30. By then, it will have spent close to the original $1.6 billion authorized for it.
The Administration sought to spend $5.3 billion, arguing that sum was all the Environmental Protection Agency could manage effectively.
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