Senate Panel Votes to Kill Commerce Dept. : Congress: GOP measure is approved along party lines. White House expects agency to survive.

A Republican proposal to kill the Commerce Department was approved by the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, putting the measure in position for action by the full Senate.

Thursday’s 5-3 vote was along party lines.

The Clinton Administration said it expects the agency to survive when the battle reaches the Senate floor. Commerce Secretary Ronald H. Brown said some GOP committee members voted in favor of the measure as a courtesy to Sen. William V. Roth Jr. (R-Del.), the panel chairman and chief sponsor.

Brown said the proposal to dismantle the agency is symbolic “trophy hunting” and is “absolutely ludicrous” because it would mean there would be no voice in the Cabinet defending the interests of the business community.

The plan to eliminate the Commerce Department would preserve some of its parts, shifting certain offices to other federal departments.

The Commerce Department is responsible for promoting international trade by U.S. corporations but also runs a variety of other programs. It compiles economic statistics and oversees the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which runs the nation’s weather satellites.

The Governmental Affairs Committee defeated amendments aimed at keeping the department intact, including a proposal by Sen. John Glenn (D-Ohio) calling for a study on restructuring the federal government. The vote was 8 to 6.

Democrats said Glenn’s bill could be a vehicle for preserving the department when the time comes for a floor vote.

Proponents of bills to abolish Commerce say it is a sprawling, top-heavy bureaucracy that spends more than $4 billion a year on about 100 loosely related programs that duplicate the work of other federal agencies.

Meanwhile, a Senate appropriations subcommittee approved cuts of 20% in the budgets of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, and two smaller agencies, the Federal Maritime Commission and the Marine Mammal Commission. The reductions would take effect in the fiscal year starting on Oct. 1.