President Signs $368-Billion Funding Bill

Congress, trying to start a monthlong adjournment, Thursday night enacted--and President Reagan signed--a $368-billion omnibus spending bill that firmly applies the brakes to Reagan’s military buildup and ends testing of anti-satellite weapons.

However, the march to adjournment was slowed by a dispute between the House and Senate over a separate bill containing a combination of spending cuts and tax increases designed to trim $74 billion from federal deficits over three years.

The measure included a controversial new tax on manufacturers to finance the Superfund toxic waste cleanup program and an extension of the 16-cent cigarette tax. The Senate passed the bill, but the House rejected the Superfund tax. (See Page 26.)

The omnibus spending bill, which the House passed by a vote of 261 to 137 and the Senate by voice vote, will fund the Defense, Agriculture, Interior and Transportation departments and many other major agencies through the fiscal year that ends next Sept. 30.

Reagan signed it promptly, even though it provided less than he wanted for defense and more than he requested for domestic programs.

Passage of the measure halted a last-minute effort by the Synthetic Fuels Corp. to aid two Western oil shale projects in defiance of Congress before the controversial 5-year-old agency goes out of business next April.

The bill, in addition to slowing Reagan’s defense buildup, lifts a 16-year ban on the production of chemical weapons, raises to $30,000 from $22,500 the amount of money that senators may accept each year in speech honoraria and paves the way for an agreement restricting future oil drilling along the California coastline.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Mark O. Hatfield (R-Ore.) said that the measure restrains federal spending by providing $18.4 billion less than the President’s budget request and $8.3 billion less than was appropriated for these agencies in fiscal 1985. “The imagery that we’re the wild, big spenders up here on Capitol Hill is not borne out by the facts,” Hatfield said.

But some lawmakers cautioned that their most difficult task awaits them next year, when they must make even deeper spending cuts to comply with the terms of the recently passed balanced budget amendment named after its Republican sponsors, Sens. Phil Gramm of Texas and Warren B. Rudman of New Hampshire.

“What are we kidding ourselves for?” Rep. Silvio O. Conte (R-Mass.) asked. “This bill isn’t worth the paper it’s written on, because of something called Gramm-Rudman.”

1.5% Defense Hike

The bill provides $297.4 billion in new military spending authority during the current fiscal year, an increase of about 1.5% over last year--not enough to compensate for inflation. This compares with increases of 10% in fiscal 1985 and 8% in fiscal 1984. The White House initially requested $322 billion for military spending in fiscal 1986, which began Oct. 1.

Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) viewed the trend with alarm. “We are confronted with a systematic dismantling of the very initiatives for modernization and improved readiness that Congress supported so strongly at the beginning of this decade,” he said.

Despite the overall cutback in defense spending, Congress gave Reagan $2.75 billion for “Star Wars” research--a substantial increase over the $1.4 billion set aside last year for the proposed space-based anti-missile defense system. Anti-satellite weapons, a key component of “Star Wars,” may not be tested unless the President can prove that the Soviet Union has resumed testing of its anti-satellite system.

Although the measure provides no money for chemical weapons production in the current year, it permits the manufacture of binary nerve gas, beginning Oct. 1. Opponents of chemical weapons have vowed to fight the provision next year.

Offshore Drilling Curbs

Attached to the appropriation for the Interior Department is a provision instructing Secretary Donald P. Hodel to enter into negotiations with members of Congress from California and other states to devise a plan for restricting future offshore oil drilling along the California coast.

One of the most hotly debated provisions of the bill prohibits the Synthetic Fuels Corp. from approving any new projects before it shuts its doors in April. Two Republicans senators, William L. Armstrong of Colorado and Jake Garn of Utah, had been pressing the agency to defy Congress by approving loan guarantees for oil shale projects in their home states before the legislation took effect.

When word reached Congress that the Synfuels Corp. board was preparing to meet Wednesday to approve the two disputed projects, opponents threatened legal action. They accused White House Chief of Staff Donald T. Regan of encouraging the board members--whom they described as “bandits”--to defy Congress.

“If the corporation is to make awards this afternoon, they’d better be prepared to answer questions in court,” Conte said. “It would be morally and ethically wrong and it would come close, Donald Regan, to breaking the law.”

Higher Fee Limit

Another hot item in the bill is a provision allowing senators the equivalent of 40% of their annual salaries--or about $30,000--in speech honoraria. The previous limit was 30%, or $22,500.

The increase was criticized by House members, who kept their limit at 30%. The one Senate dissenter was William Proxmire (D-Wis.), who argued that speech honoraria are nothing more than backdoor payoffs from groups seeking influence in Congress.