A $6.6-Billion Plea After a 6.6 Quake : Administration’s request merits quick approval

The Northridge earthquake is now being called the nation’s costliest natural disaster ever. Estimates already put damage in Southern California at $30 billion. Federal aid is crucial to the region’s rebuilding and to the nation’s economic health. President Clinton understands this state’s vital role in the national economy. In his State of the Union address Tuesday he expressed sympathy for victims of last week’s temblor, and his Administration will be asking Congress for $6.6 billion in additional earthquake aid. Now it’s up to Congress to act--quickly.

The congressional effort should be unequivocally bipartisan. But the political posturing already has begun, with some Republicans calling the aid package a “budget breaker” and demanding offsetting spending cuts in other programs. They invoke the 1990 Budget Act, which requires that increased outlays be matched by spending cuts. Trouble is, Congress required no such offsets when it helped victims of the many natural disasters that have occurred since the 1990 budget deal was made.

The Administration will ask Congress to declare the supplemental request an “emergency,” a designation that, under budget rules, would allow the federal deficit to grow. Congress should comply.

The aid would help keep the California economy on track at a point when measurements suggest it is starting to emerge from its worst downturn since the Great Depression. Clinton repeatedly has said that without a California recovery there will be a slow recovery at best for the nation as a whole. He’s right.

So it is in the nation’s interest to keep California going. With nearly $900 million in federal emergency funds already flowing to California, the Administration’s request totals $7.5 billion. The additional $6.6 billion, which could be increased, is for a wide range of emergency assistance. Leon E. Panetta, director of the Office of Management and Budget, said that the largest share of relief--$3.84 billion--is for Federal Emergency Management Agency programs to provide housing and for repair of schools, other public buildings and water systems.

The money would also be used to rapidly rebuild quake-damaged infrastructure, especially vital highways like the Golden State and Santa Monica freeways. The Administration generously is proposing that the matching requirement for state and local governments be cut to 10% from the normal 25% because of California’s economic problems. Gov. Pete Wilson and the Legislature can prod Congress into action on this emergency appropriation by moving quickly to raise the funds needed under a revised matching rule, preferably through a temporary state gasoline tax increase.