The Nation - News from Sept. 9, 1988

The House overwhelmingly approved a compromise Interior-Forest Service spending bill that would prevent the Reagan Administration from selling oil leases off the coasts of three states. The $9.9-billion fiscal 1989 appropriations bill, sent to the Senate by a 359-45 vote, is drawing veto threats because of the oil-leasing issue and several other provisions. The size of the vote, however, indicates there is sufficient support in the House to override any veto of the spending package worked out by Senate and House negotiators. The bill would continue through next Oct. 1 the ban of Interior Department sales of oil leases off the coasts of Northern California and Massachusetts and reinstitute a drilling ban for the waters off southwestern Florida.