Spending Bill Passes but Not Before Layoffs

Pressing toward final adjournment, the 99th Congress on Friday sent legislation to President Reagan that would fund the entire federal government through the remainder of fiscal 1987, but the money came too late to avoid a half-day layoff of federal workers.

The massive spending bill, which had been approved by both the House and Senate earlier in the week, was completed when the two chambers managed to resolve a number of minor disagreements. The action opened the way for adjournment today.

A White House spokesman said Reagan will sign the spending bill as soon as he receives it, adding that government employees will be expected back at work Monday.

As usual, the final hours of the two-year congressional session were filled with emotional farewells, unexpected filibusters and petty squabbles over pork-barrel projects. A Congress that had dealt with such monumental matters as nuclear weapons and tax revision ended up by bickering over whether to buy a few T-46 jet trainer planes manufactured in Long Island, N.Y.

Many lawmakers grew restive as adjournment neared, and some were clearly angry that the final crush of business had kept them in session more than two weeks beyond the original Oct. 3 target date for adjournment. The delay was a setback for those members such as Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.) who are facing tough reelection challenges back home.

For such prominent figures in recent American political history as House Speaker Thomas P. (Tip) O’Neill Jr. (D-Mass.) and Sens. Barry Goldwater (R-Ariz.) and Russell B. Long (D-La.), the last days of the 99th Congress were the culmination of their lifework. Goldwater spent Friday fighting the T-46 and O’Neill called a news conference in which he summed up his half-century in public life by saying: “I’ve seen the American dream come true and I’ve played a part in it.”

Later, O’Neill surrendered his gavel to Minority Leader Robert H. Michel (R-Ill.) in a brief ceremony in the House chamber, and many members offered their glowing tributes. Rep. Edward P. Boland (D-Mass.), one of the Speaker’s closest friends, noted that O’Neill had become “one of the most recognizable figures in America” as a leading spokesman for the Democratic Party.

The last-minute business of the 99th Congress included immigration revision, anti-drug legislation, renewal of the Superfund for toxic waste cleanup, an $11.7-billion deficit-reduction package and an increase in the debt ceiling to $2.3 trillion, as well as the mammoth $576-billion omnibus measure to fund the entire government in fiscal 1987.

Final Bang of Gavel

But lost in the shuffle of the election-year adjournment rush were many major pieces of legislation that would die with the final bang of the gavel--including the massive House-passed measure to combat America’s record trade deficit. And congressional leaders were still uncertain whether they could pass an initiative highly popular in Western states that would raise the nation’s 55-m.p.h. speed limit.

Summing up the accomplishments of the 99th Congress, both O’Neill and Senate Democratic leader Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia praised the body for reining in the policies of the Reagan Administration. “In many cases,” Byrd said, “the Congress--often led by the Democratic minority--checked the President’s ill-conceived policies.”

Self-criticism was the order of the day Friday, as many members admonished themselves for failing to fully fund the government until 17 days into the new fiscal year, which began Oct. 1. “Congress is not perfect,” O’Neill confessed.

Although the Congress had passed four separate stopgap measures to keep federal operations going while deliberations continued on the full funding legislation, the last one expired at 12:01 a.m. Friday, prompting federal officials to furlough 500,000 of the government’s 2.2-million civilian workers at noon. Those laid off were deemed to be “non-essential.”

The Statue of Liberty, the Washington Monument and the St. Louis Gateway Arch were all closed. “Any site which has a lock is locked,” said George Berklacy, a spokesman for the National Park Service.

The Defense Department’s 2.2 million uniformed personnel were exempted from the shutdown, as were 40,000 Coast Guardsmen, 50,000 Federal Aviation Administration workers, 44,000 scientists, doctors, nurses and technicians at the Public Health Service and all federal law enforcement personnel.

Rep. Patricia Schroeder (D-Colo.), chairman of the civil service subcommittee of the House Post Office and Civil Service Committee, said the shutdown actually cost more money than it saved in salaries.

The shutdown was designed in part by the Senate leadership to bring pressure on Sens. Alfonse M. D’Amato (R-N.Y.) and Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.) to break a filibuster that had been under way since 4 p.m. Thursday. Although their filibuster was intended to pressure Congress to purchase 12 T-46 trainers from Fairchild Industries in Long Island, the New Yorkers eventually agreed to accept a lesser compromise.

It was a final triumph for Goldwater, the Republican Party’s 1964 presidential nominee who is retiring after more than three decades in the Senate. Immediately after persuading D’Amato and Moynihan to sit down, the Senate voted 69 to 21 to choke off another filibuster by Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Tex.) on the immigration revision bill.

Among the many measures that were in the process of clearing Congress in these final hours were:

--An $11.7-billion package of deficit reduction measures that had been required under congressional budget resolution. Most of the savings were achieved through increasing fees for federal services, extending minor taxes and selling of government assets, such as loan portfolios. The package included approval of the sale of Conrail in a public stock offering.

--Legislation raising the federal borrowing limit to $2.3 trillion from the current $2.1 trillion. The increase is enough to keep the government operating through mid-March.

--Authorization of the first major package of new water projects since 1970. One of the largest single projects of the 262 in the $16.3-billion bill is the $1.1-billion Santa Ana River Flood Control Project in Orange County.

--A bill that would eliminate mandatory retirement for most workers. While 13 states, including California, already have similar laws, the federal legislation is estimated to put an additional 195,000 workers in the labor force by the end of the century.

Times staff writers Karen Tumulty, Don Irwin and Robert L. Jackson contributed to this story.