Clean Water Vote Delayed to Oblige GOP

Senate Democratic leaders, hoping to maintain strong bipartisan support for the $18-billion Clean Water Act, bowed to Republican wishes Wednesday and agreed to delay a vote on the legislation for one week.

Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) noted White House “concerns” that, if the Senate passed the bill immediately, President Reagan might be forced to veto it shortly before his Jan. 27 State of the Union address.

” . . . He would rather go in clean, without having a veto threat hanging over everybody right at the beginning of the year,” a key Republican staff member said.

Has 10 Days to Act

Under federal law, Reagan has 10 days to act on legislation passed by Congress. The Senate’s decision to delay a vote on the bill means that the President could defer any action until after the speech.

The legislation, which would fund a clean-up of the nation’s lakes and rivers, was approved by the House last week on a 406-8 vote. The Senate is expected to pass it by a similarly lopsided margin, but Democrats were in no mood Wednesday to jeopardize the bill’s bipartisan backing.

“I don’t want to embarrass the President, I don’t seek any confrontation with the White House . . . I just want to see this bill passed,” Senate Majority Leader Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.) said.

Earlier Bill Vetoed

Last year, a similar measure was passed unanimously by both houses of Congress. But Reagan vetoed the bill just before the November election, calling it too expensive. The veto took effect when Congress was not in session, so the action could not be overridden.

On Wednesday, a White House spokesman said that Reagan was being “strongly urged” by senior staff members to veto the new legislation as well.

Dole and Byrd agreed to schedule a vote next Wednesday on the bill and on a competing $12-billion proposal sponsored by Reagan. Although Dole said that the substitute bill is more fiscally responsible, he conceded that it has little support.

However, other senators denounced Reagan’s proposal as a last-minute ploy to siphon votes away from the $18-billion bill. They said that the legislation passed by the House is the bare minimum needed to curb water pollution throughout the nation.

Reagan Plan Criticized

“This (Reagan’s) proposal would shortchange the environment,” said Sen. Robert T. Stafford (R-Vt.), who was chairman of the Senate panel that drew up the Clean Water Act last year.

“I must regret that the President is putting this body through this debate. If he vetoes the measure again, his veto will be overridden. It will lead to a confrontation early in the 100th Congress that he cannot win.”

Treatment Plants

The bill, which has strong support from industry, environmental groups and state and local governments, earmarks funds over nine years for construction of waste-water treatment plants. In addition, it creates new pollution control programs, including funds to curb toxic runoff from farmland and city streets.

In California, the bill would provide about $174 million annually over the next eight years for sewage plant construction. The measure includes special funds to protect San Francisco Bay, to construct a sludge pipeline in Orange County and to clean up sewage in San Diego that originates in Tijuana, Mexico.