Flurry of Work Keeps Congress From Packing

The 100th Congress prepared to pack up and go home Friday, ending an unusually productive two-year session with a flurry of last-minute legislation, ranging from the war against drugs to water projects to government ethics.

The biggest issues remained unresolved as lawmakers engaged in last-minute, congratulatory speechmaking in preparation for their trips home to campaign for reelection.

Congress had hoped to adjourn in early October but was still in Washington because of problems with differing House and Senate versions of a massive anti-drug bill.

Differences in the two bills were being worked out in closed negotiating sessions that threatened to keep the light in the Capitol dome burning into the evening--a signal that Congress was meeting.

Anti-Drug Package

The drug package would fight illegal drugs through law enforcement, stiffer penalties, treatment, rehabilitation, education and aid for authorities in drug-producing countries.

It would make it possible for those possessing small amounts of drugs for “recreational” use to be hit with up to $10,000 in civil fines and, beginning next September, to face loss of student loans and other federal benefits for even a possession conviction.

Murders committed or ordered during drug-related felonies could result in imposition of a revitalized federal death penalty. Serious drug offenses would carry stiffer minimum prison terms.

Also hanging between legislative life-and-death was a tax bill.

Top negotiators from the House and Senate continued the search for a compromise bill whose main purpose was correcting errors in the 1986 tax overhaul. The lingering disagreement was not over the corrections but over dozens of amendments providing tax benefits to one group or another, as well as tax increases to pay for them.

Price Tag Reduced

House negotiators agreed to back down from their demand for a bill with a price tag of around $7.5 billion over three years; they offered to settle for about $4.2 billion. Senators favored a bill much closer to $3 billion.

Two big revenue raisers in the House bill were causing problems for Senate negotiators. One would repeal a tax break set up to benefit Alaska native corporations; the other would repeal or sharply reduce an accounting method that benefits defense contractors and large construction companies.

Rep. Dan Rostenkowski (D-Ill.), chief House negotiator, said he and Senate Republican Leader Bob Dole of Kansas would make a final stab at compromise. If that failed, he told reporters, he would introduce a new bill containing mainly those provisions important to House members. The House would then pass it and send it to the Senate on a take-it-or-leave-it basis.

Pressure to pass the tax bill has come mainly from farmers, who would benefit by no longer being required to pay the federal tax on diesel fuel and by being allowed to deduct some expenses of producing livestock before the animals generate income.

Rostenkowski noted that there was little in the bill for constituents in his district on the northwest side of Chicago. “Rostenkowski’s district doesn’t use too much diesel fuel . . . and I’m not sure how much grass we cut for cattle,” he said.

Differences Remain

Also pending was a bill that would restrict the lobbying work of top government officials and former members of the House and Senate. Each body has passed the bill, but differences in the bills remained unresolved.

The end of the 100th Congress marks the retirement of six senators, including President Pro Tempore John Stennis of Mississippi, who has been a member of the chamber for 40 of his 87 years. Also retiring are Sens. William Proxmire (D-Wis.), a 30-year Senate veteran; Robert Stafford (R-Vt.); Dan Evans (R-Wash.); Lawton Chiles (D-Fla.), and Paul Trible (R-Va.).

Other legislation sent to President Reagan on Friday included:

- A $1.5-billion authorization for Corps of Engineer flood control and navagation projects in 12 states, passed by the House.

- Three House-approved bills aimed at focusing the government’s long-range aviation research, boosting the commercial satellite industry and bringing order to federal superconductivity efforts. The aviation proposal directs the Federal Aviation Administration to step up its research on aircraft safety, including fire prevention and the problems faced by aging planes.