EARTHQUAKE: THE LONG ROAD BACK : $8.6-Billion Quake Relief Plan Is Sent to U.S. Senate : Funding: Main issues are assistance to illegal immigrants and how to pay for package. The bill is likely to reach the President this week.

Staying on its fast track, the California earthquake aid bill was sent to the full Senate on Tuesday with promises of upcoming skirmishes over how to pay for the $8.6-billion package and stricter limits on benefits to illegal immigrants.

The measure, which would be the largest emergency aid package ever adopted, appeared to be headed toward President Clinton’s desk by the end of the week. It contains funds for housing vouchers, emergency medical care, highways, schools and other public facilities, and loans for homeowners, renters and small-business owners.

Before sending the bill to the Senate floor, the Appropriations Committee incorporated $3.44 billion in reductions in other programs to pay for part of the aid to quake-ravaged Southern California. This compared to $2.5 billion that the House recommended.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said the differences are not significant enough to delay the bill’s adoption.

In addition, Sen. Bob Kerrey (D-Neb.) said he will propose a temporary increase in the national gas tax to help defray the costs. A similar proposal by Kerrey after last year’s floods in the Midwest was resoundingly defeated.

The major remaining fight appears to loom over how the government should handle the volatile issue of assisting illegal immigrants victimized by the Jan. 17 temblor. A bruising debate, forestalled by a compromise in the House last week, appears likely when the Senate considers the bill today.

Sen. Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) proposed an amendment in the Appropriations Committee to require federal agencies to “take reasonable steps to determine whether any individual seeking (earthquake aid) is lawfully within the United States.” Reid sought to tighten a measure adopted in the House that prohibits longer-term assistance when it is known that an applicant is in the country illegally--but does not require agencies to inquire about legal status.

Reid’s initiative was defeated by a voice vote in the committee. He vowed to pursue the proposal on the Senate floor.

For illegal immigrants to receive aid beyond medical or immediate emergency care “is simply not fair to California citizens or the citizens of this country,” said Reid, who has sponsored a hard-line package of bills to crack down on illegal immigration. “The House bill’s provision does not go far enough.”

He called it: “Don’t ask, don’t tell.”

Reid said his measure would apply to 18-month housing vouchers for rent and loans for small-business owners. Feinstein responded that illegal immigrants were not receiving such assistance. She voiced support for the House amendment.

“There is no way they can verify everyone’s legal status at the initial request,” Feinstein said. Citing the danger of communicable diseases among those left homeless and the long delays for those seeking help, she added: “This is not a practical solution.”

She said Housing and Urban Development Secretary Henry G. Cisneros has told her he has a better alternative. She said he has pledged to go back and verify the legal status of applicants for 18-month rent subsidies after the grant is made. “So that the maximum that someone might be able to get away may be a month,” Feinstein said.

Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.) said officials of the Federal Emergency Management Agency told her they would have to add 20 to 30 disaster assistance centers and hundreds of personnel to meet the demands of checking every applicant’s legal status. She said that could take months.

“The very nature of the processing would delay getting assistance out to American citizens in a timely way,” said Mikulski, who added that many victims had lost their documents amid the quake damage.

At one point, she turned to Reid and asked: “Senator, could you prove this afternoon that you are a citizen other than the fact you were elected to the United States Senate?”

Reid said that if an applicant could produce a driver’s license or Social Security card, “there is a presumption that you are a citizen of the United States.”

Any differences in the Senate and House versions of the emergency aid package will have to be negotiated in a conference committee of legislators from each chamber. The bill’s key proponents, seeking to finalize the measure before Congress takes a short recess next week, have sought to minimize disagreements that could extend the conference deliberations.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said that will be her goal on the floor today. She said she would join Feinstein in opposing Reid’s amendment as well as Kerrey’s gas tax proposal.

“I think we can handle this on the floor,” Boxer said. “My attempt is to get this moving quickly.”

At the request of Clinton, the Senate Appropriations Committee added another $250 million for aid for the Midwest floods--bringing the total cost of the emergency spending measure to $10 billion. The bill already included $750 million for flood relief and repairs from the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, as well as $1.2 billion for military peacekeeping operations in Bosnia, Somalia, Haiti, Iraq and elsewhere.

The committee also voted to support a resolution calling for a bipartisan task force to assess methods for paying for disaster relief in the future. The House appointed such a panel last week.