Senate Votes to Add $285 Million in Revenue Sharing : Despite Charges of Budget Busting, It Rejects Plan to Cut Housing Aid by $7.2 Billion

The Senate, turning aside charges of budget busting, voted Thursday to increase revenue sharing funds by about $285 million for states and local governments and rejected a proposal to cut federal housing subsidies by $7.2 billion.

The Senate took its action as it began work on a $54.8-billion fiscal 1986 appropriations bill for the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Veterans Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and other independent agencies.

The Senate Appropriations Committee already had recommended $4.6 billion for revenue sharing payments. Early Thursday, the full Senate approved on a voice vote an amendment by Sen. Dave Durenberger (R-Minn.) to add another $570 million.

Appease Critics

However, to appease critics who said the increase would require across-the-board cuts of 2.5% in all other programs covered by the bill, the Senate late Thursday night approved an amendment by Sen. Pete V. Domenici (R-N.M.) that cut the proposed revenue sharing increase by about half and reduced funding for all other offices by 1.1%.

“This is not a delightful undertaking,” Domenici said as he offered the amendment to reduce spending across the board to stay within the Reagan Administration budget guidelines. The Senate approved the amendment on a voice vote before deciding to return to work on the overall spending bill today.

Earlier in the day, the Senate rejected the proposal to adhere to the Administration’s budget request to cut public housing funds by $7.2 billion. The bill also includes $1.3 billion for subsidies for public housing, $250 million more than the Administration requested.

The measure would provide $631 million for housing loans for the elderly and handicapped. The Administration’s budget had proposed a two-year moratorium on this program and requested only $50 million to fund projects already approved and under way.

House Measure

Once the Senate completes work on the overall spending bill, it must be reconciled with a $55.4-billion measure that the House approved in July.

In other congressional action Thursday:

--The House and Senate passed and sent to the White House the first of 13 regular money bills for fiscal 1986, a compromise $15.3-billion appropriations bill for federal energy and water development projects. The measure sets aside nearly half its funds for the Energy Department’s atomic defense activities and also funds hundreds of local navigation and irrigation facilities.

--The House approved an $8.4-billion appropriations measure that provides funds for hundreds of military construction projects, including one of the final groups of MX nuclear missiles expected to be authorized by Congress. The vote of 373 to 36 sent the bill to the Senate.