Senate Approves $3.9 Billion in Agency Funding

The Senate on Friday passed a $3.9-billion emergency spending bill designed to head off financial crises at several federal agencies. The vote was 71 to 8.

Along the way, the Senate voted to kill $80.6 million in defense research money for 11 universities that detractors called “pork-barrel science” and adopted several spending items important to senators who are up for reelection this year in depressed farm states.

The catchall spending measure included $250 million for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, whose money for relief efforts had nearly dried up; $5.3 billion for the Commodity Credit Corp., where money for farm programs was exhausted earlier this week, and new lending room for the Federal Housing Administration, which ran out of mortgage loan authority Thursday.

Funds for IRS

Also included were $340 million to head off layoffs at the Internal Revenue Service; $150 million in economic and military aid for the Philippines; $526 million to help restore the space shuttle program to operation, and $146 million to restore college tuition grants.

The final form of the money measure is far from clear, however. It was at sharp odds with a House-passed version, and negotiators expect to meet next week to work out differences. The Reagan Administration also objects to several provisions in both bills and has sent warnings of a possible veto.

Several influential senators, including Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.), suffered a defeat when research money targeted for universities in their states was cut out of the bill.

The designated schools were Cornell, Syracuse, Iowa State, Wichita State, Kansas, Nevada-Las Vegas, Northeastern, Oregon Graduate Center, Oklahoma State, Arizona State and the Rochester Institute of Technology.