Bill to Keep Government Solvent May Face Veto

The Reagan Administration Thursday threatened to reject a massive spending bill, now working its way through Congress, that is needed to keep most of the federal government operating after next Thursday.

“The continuing resolution is a candidate for a veto,” said White House spokesman Larry Speakes, referring to the measure in the jargon of lawmakers.

$480-Billion Measure

As already approved by the House, the bill would authorize $480 billion through the end of September to operate several major agencies and programs, including defense. The Senate Appropriations Committee Thursday approved a $485-billion version of the bill on a voice vote.

Administration officials have complained that, despite differences in the House and Senate versions, both exceed the fiscal 1986 budget goals for domestic programs while significantly undercutting defense spending goals. However, House Democrats contend that the measure passed by that body is well within budget targets.

Both measures contain compromise language requiring Interior Secretary Donald P. Hodel to resume negotiations with lawmakers from California and other states on a plan to limit new oil exploration off the California coastline.

The federal government has been running on a series of stopgap funding bills since the fiscal year began on Oct. 1 because the House and Senate have been unable to agree on funding levels for individual spending bills for most agencies.

Throwing in the Towel

Still at an impasse, legislative leaders had decided to throw in the towel and pass one bill that would carry spending through the fiscal year and that, because of its huge size, would be harder to squabble over. However, if Reagan vetoes the omnibus bill, Congress might have to pass another short-term funding measure next week or risk a government shutdown.

In a related area, House and Senate negotiators continued to bargain over a controversial balanced-budget measure that has tied Congress in knots for more than two months and has delayed much-needed approval of an Administration request to raise the national debt ceiling to $2 trillion from $1.8 trillion.

Backers of the so-called Gramm-Rudman amendment, which would mandate annual cuts in the federal deficit until it was brought into balance by 1991, have held the increase in the debt limit hostage to gain leverage for approval of the budget-trimming plan.

The Treasury Department has predicted that it will run out of cash at midnight Wednesday unless it gets new borrowing authority.