House Passes Spending Bill Despite Veto Threats

The Democratic House ignored White House veto threats Thursday as it passed an omnibus spending bill that would curb President Reagan’s controversial power to delay spending money previously approved by Congress.

The measure, sent to the Senate by a 242-132 margin, also includes $330 million to help pay for emergency relief in California and other states recently struck by floods and other natural disasters.

Another provision, added to the bill on a voice vote at the urging of California Rep. Vic Fazio (D-Sacramento), would block temporarily Administration plans to sell the Western Area Power Administration and other large publicly owned electric grids as part of Reagan’s plans to turn over many government-run businesses to the private sector.

The Western Area Power Administration includes the Central Valley Project, which generates and sells hydroelectric power to many California utilities.

‘Fire Sale’ Cited

Fazio, citing estimates compiled by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, said that power authorities had a collective value of between $62 billion and $100 billion, but the Administration planned to sell them for $12.7 billion. “This is a fire sale,” he said.

In all, the spending package would add $1.7 billion to funding levels already approved for federal programs in fiscal 1986, which ends Sept. 30. The White House had endorsed several of the additional spending requests, including a $702-million appropriation to pay for the first phase of a five-year, $4.4-billion program to upgrade security at U.S. embassies.

But Administration officials had found other parts of the package so repugnant--especially the language restricting Reagan’s authority to defer spending--that they have strongly suggested that the President would veto the measure if it remains intact.

However, the Republican-controlled Senate is likely to be more sympathetic to Reagan’s concerns, and lawmakers from both chambers may be forced to work out differences in conference committee before sending a final version of the legislation to Reagan.

The deferral controversy came to a head earlier this year when Reagan informed lawmakers of his intention to delay until next year $24.7 billion in previously approved fiscal 1986 spending.

Critics contended that Reagan in many instances was using the deferrals as a political tool to scrap programs he does not like, and Democrats inserted language in the spending bill that would permit the President to delay spending only when his purpose is to improve the management of programs. A Republican effort to delete the provision failed on a 224-163 vote.

The bill would specifically reject $5.3 billion in spending delays requested by Reagan.