Senate Approves $18-Billion Water Bill : Political Confrontation With President Expected Over Price Tag

The Senate, setting the stage for a major political confrontation with President Reagan, voted overwhelmingly Wednesday for the $18-billion Clean Water Act.

The legislation, which received strong bipartisan support on a 93-6 vote, was approved earlier this month by the House and now goes to Reagan, who vetoed a similar bill last year as too costly.

During a two-hour debate, Republican and Democratic sponsors repeatedly urged Reagan to sign the measure into law. But a showdown seems likely, as White House spokesman Larry Speakes said that Reagan’s advisers would “heatedly” recommend that he veto the measure again.

Earlier in the day, the Senate easily defeated a $12-billion water cleanup bill that Reagan had sponsored as a compromise. The vote showed that Congress was speaking with a “bipartisan voice” on the anti-pollution issue, according to Sen. George J. Mitchell (D-Me.).

‘Don’t Need Fight’

“Mr. President, we don’t want a fight on this issue,” Mitchell said at a news conference after the Senate’s vote. “You don’t need a fight on this issue. This is the worst possible time . . . to engage in such controversy.”

Mitchell said he was alluding to Reagan’s “weakened” presidency as a result of the Iran- contras scandal, but quickly added that the water bill would have been resoundingly approved by Congress in any case.

He and other senators predicted that any veto would be overridden by Congress. The House vote on the bill was 406 to 8.

Sen. John H. Chafee (R-R.I.), who helped draw up the legislation, said it would be politically disastrous for Reagan to try to block the bill, which earmarks funds over a nine-year period to clean up the nation’s lakes and rivers.

Sewage Plant Funds

Noting that the legislation would phase out federal grants to build sewage treatment plants--a key request made by the Administration during Senate hearings--Chafee said that Reagan should “declare a victory . . . he should claim credit, have a marvelous bill signing ceremony and invite us all to it.”

Under federal law, the President has 10 working days after the bill is sent to him to sign it, veto it or allow it to become law without his signature. Should Reagan again veto the bill, sponsors would need the votes of two-thirds of the members present and voting in the Senate and House to override the decision.

The common perception that an override would be successful was reinforced by Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.), who in introducing Reagan’s compromise legislation expressed only lukewarm support for it.

The choice before the Senate, he said, was between “two good bills.” The chief virtue of the President’s proposal, he added, was that it was less costly.

“We can start this Congress off on the right foot, or we can shoot the budget in the foot,” Dole said. “Everybody I know is for clean water, that’s really not the argument. The question is, can we have that and still be fiscally responsible?”

Dole Joins Colleagues

When the President’s proposal was defeated, Dole joined with 92 other colleagues in voting for the $18-billion proposal, including California’s two senators, Republican Pete Wilson and Democrat Alan Cranston.

The clean water measure, which was passed unanimously last year by both houses, is supported by industry, environmental groups, labor, and state and local governments. The bill would allocate funds to construct waste-water treatment plants and also would provide $400 million for a new program to control toxic runoff from farmland and city streets. After five years, the grants for sewage treatment plants would be replaced by revolving loan funds.

For California, the bill would provide about $174 million annually over the next eight years toward sewage plant construction. Another provision would establish San Francisco Bay as a “priority estuary” that would receive $65 million to improve water quality. The act, which would extend clean water legislation originally enacted in 1972, also would provide funding for an experimental sludge pipeline in Orange County.

Reagan vetoed the bill last November, shortly after Congress had adjourned. Because Congress was not in session, the veto could not be overridden.