Four-Day Emergency Spending Bill OKd

Unable to agree on long-term funding, Congress passed a four-day emergency spending measure Thursday night, just hours before the Pentagon and many other government agencies were scheduled to run out of money.

The stopgap measure passed the House and Senate by voice vote and was quickly signed into law by President Reagan. The bill was needed to avoid a shutdown of the Defense, State, Treasury, Justice, Commerce, Transportation, Interior and Agriculture departments as well as the Postal Service at midnight, when previous funding expired.

Earlier Bill

Funding for two other agencies, the Labor and Health and Human Services departments, was resolved earlier Thursday when the President signed into law a $106-billion measure passed by Congress earlier this week. Several other agencies already have been funded by previously enacted legislation.

Also passed by Congress on Thursday night was a short-term measure extending several federal taxes, including the current 16-cent-a-pack tax on cigarettes. Without it, the cigarette tax would have reverted to 8 cents per pack.

Passage of the emergency bills will give Congress until 6 p.m. Monday to resolve a number of knotty disagreements with Reagan over a long-term omnibus spending bill providing money for those agencies that have not yet been funded by separate appropriations measures.

The President has threatened to veto the long-term funding measure now under consideration by a House-Senate conference committee, on the grounds that it would give too much money to domestic programs and too little to defense. In addition, Reagan opposes a number of specific provisions, including one that would impose new restrictions on the nuclear cooperation pact he signed with China when he visited Peking in April, 1984.

Two Crisises

Twice since Reagan became President, government agencies have been forced to close their doors because the White House and Congress could not agree on funding. Although Congress’ action averted such a crisis this week, it does not preclude the possibility that these agencies will be forced to close and federal workers will be furloughed Monday night.

In separate letters to the House and Senate last week, the Administration indicated that Reagan would veto the long-term spending bill unless conferees agreed to restore some money to defense and to trim many domestic programs.

Specifically, the Administration contended that the House and Senate versions of the bill provide $2.6 billion more for domestic programs than was intended by Congress in its earlier budget resolution. Likewise, White House officials argued that the bills are more than $9.7 billion too low on defense spending and national security.

Agriculture Agreement

Members of the House-Senate committee worked feverishly to resolve disagreements among themselves, as well as their dispute with the President. Agreement was reached Thursday on a $36.9-billion appropriation for the Agriculture Department and $15 billion for foreign aid, and the conferees were reported to be moving toward agreement on a $282.6-billion package for defense.

The foreign aid appropriation will include $3 billion for Israel and $2.1 billion for Egypt, committee members said. In addition, the Philippines will receive $55 million in military aid, substantially more than the $25 million provided by the House but less than the $70 million approved by the Senate.

Still unresolved were many issues involving spending by the Defense and Interior departments and a House-Senate disagreement over funding of the Synthetic Fuels Corp. The House rescinded most of the $6 billion in funding for the agency, but the Senate restored $3 billion.

Nor has the committee yet tackled one of the most hotly contested issues facing it: a Senate-passed measure that would halt implementation of the Sino-American nuclear cooperation treaty until the President certifies that the Chinese have agreed to internationally accepted guidelines governing non-proliferation. The Administration strongly opposes the measure, sponsored by Sen. John Glenn (D-Ohio).

‘Straightforward’ Measure

“The amendment would not have the effect of imposing controls,” State Department spokesman Charles Redman declared Thursday. “Rather, it would effectively scuttle the agreement for peaceful nuclear cooperation we are about to bring into force.”

But Glenn defended his amendment as “simple and straightforward” and questioned why the Chinese would not agree formally to these restrictions. “I can only conclude that there must be something secret that they’ve agreed to that we don’t know about yet,” he said in a speech on the Senate floor.