House OKs $8.6-Billion Earthquake Relief Bill : Politics: Legislators agree to $2.6 billion in offsetting spending reductions after rejecting pleas for larger cuts.

The House on Thursday swiftly sent the $8.6-billion California earthquake relief bill to the Senate, paving the way for final congressional approval by the end of next week.

“It was really a magnificent victory and it will help speed this through the Senate,” said Rep. Don Edwards (D-San Jose), dean of the California delegation. The bill passed on a 337-74 vote.

House Democrats, joined by a bloc of 26 Republicans, turned back a determined effort by a bipartisan coalition to pay for the new spending with $9.7 billion of cuts in defense, transportation, community development, foreign aid and other national programs. Following intensive arm-twisting, the vote rejecting the amendment was surprisingly decisive, 240-178.

Earlier, the House leadership had a scare when another proposal to cut spending by $7.5 billion was narrowly defeated, 211-207. Instead, with the backing of the Democrats, the House voted, 415-2, for a relatively modest $2.6 billion in cuts in various federal programs that it had already passed last year.

In the process, the bill’s leading advocates from Southern California worked doggedly to sidetrack proposals that they said could have seriously complicated their goal of pushing the measure through the Senate and on to President Clinton next week.

Underscoring the urgency of the timing, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said Thursday that it has halted delivery of money for rebuilding roads and public structures in 20 states because a string of recent natural disasters has seriously depleted emergency funds.

With the federal disaster aid fund down to $200 million, officials said they acted to ensure that they would be able to continue providing emergency shelter and other immediate care to those stricken by the Northridge quake. FEMA officials said they are continuing to provide funds for infrastructure repair to the Los Angeles disaster area, but only to meet critical needs.

During its speedy movement through the House this week, the measure became embroiled in two highly charged political issues at the outset of an election year: illegal immigration and deficit reduction. The bill emerged with compromise amendments that its leading sponsors said would forestall potential problems in the Senate.

There was no discussion on the House floor about the immigration amendment, which prohibits government agencies from giving longer-term benefits to earthquake victims who are known to be illegal immigrants.

Thursday’s votes were the culmination of a bid by deficit hawks of both parties to attach a pay-as-you-go provision to the disaster relief bill rather than add the new outlays to the federal deficit. President Clinton and House leaders maintained that the government should not suddenly change its customary method of paying for emergency aid in the wake of a disaster.

In the cloakroom and on the House floor Thursday, key advocates of the bill argued to wavering colleagues that adoption of the amendment to slice spending by $9.7 billion over five years would mean trimming programs in their own districts to pay for Southern California’s recovery.

Moreover, under the terms of the proposal, the cuts for the first year would have had to be implemented in the next six months because the 1994 fiscal year is nearly half over. Sponsors of the relief bill said that could have crippled programs such as drug enforcement, the FBI and border control that are priorities for many fiscal conservatives.

Even some of the most ardent supporters of the Clinton package agreed that Congress should seek other ways to pay for disaster relief in the future. But as Rep. Howard P. (Buck) McKeon (R-Santa Clarita) said, “It should not be done on the backs of the people who have suffered the tragedy.”

Following the bill’s passage, the House leadership named a bipartisan task force to examine other funding mechanisms.

Most Republicans went all-out to win broad spending cuts under the emergency aid bill.

“We have another disaster--the federal deficit--and citizens will be feeling the aftershocks from that for years to come,” said Rep. Gerald B. Solomon (R-N.Y.).

The more sweeping proposal to trim $9.7 billion was sponsored by Rep. Tim Penny (D-Minn.) and Rep. John Kasich (R-Ohio), a politically potent team who have attracted significant support for deficit-cutting plans in recent months. Most Republicans joined with them but a crucial group of GOP lawmakers who had previously supported their efforts broke ranks on the earthquake relief bill.

“This is an emergency bill, not a budget-balancing measure,” said Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Redlands). “This is the wrong thing at the wrong time in the wrong place.”

Lewis, senior California Republican on the House Appropriations Committee, and McKeon, president of the GOP freshman class, teamed up to persuade other Republicans to resist spending cuts that might bedevil the relief bill. They were among six California Republicans who voted against the Penny-Kasich package; 16 supported it.

McKeon, who represents portions of the San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys devastated by the quake, said he had intended to vote for the Penny-Kasich proposal until Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City) persuaded him that its passage might slow the aid bill.

“My fundamental principle is that you don’t build up the deficit,” said McKeon as he lobbied colleagues. “But I don’t want to do anything to slow (the aid) down.”

California Democrats, with the lone exception of Rep. Gary A. Condit (D-Ceres), voted solidly against both of the larger spending reduction proposals. Berman and Rep. Julian Dixon (D-Los Angeles) took the lead in mobilizing opposition to those spending offsets.

If it wins final approval, the $8.6-billion emergency aid package would be the costliest in the nation’s history. The bill also contains nearly $1.2 billion for military peacekeeping missions in Somalia, Bosnia and elsewhere, as well as nearly $750 million for other previous disasters.

Even as the House cast its votes, Rep. Vic Fazio (D-West Sacramento) predicted that, as more damage is uncovered from the quake, “We have to be prepared to help Los Angeles again. There will certainly be a second (emergency aid) request before the end of spring.”

Meanwhile, FEMA Director James Lee Witt told a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing Thursday that it was critical for Congress to quickly pass the earthquake aid package so that the delivery of emergency services in Southern California is not interrupted.

“If we do not get this supplemental passed, we are all in a position moving into the next week or two where we could literally run out of funds,” Witt said.

The freeze order would affect federal emergency funds to Midwestern states hit by last summer’s floods, Florida communities racked by Hurricane Andrew and Southern California areas rebuilding from last year’s fires, said Richard W. Krimm, FEMA associate director for response and recovery.

Times staff writer Glenn F. Bunting in Washington also contributed to this story.