OCR Text |
Show .. Western Resources wrap-up" ' Omnibus water bill RvHeleneCMonberg asbington in another slap at the Sand his water policies, the on Feb 5 passed and sent to the !,p the omnibus water resources JpmentbUKHR 4788) over bitter Station opposition. Mr. Carter tedly has threatened to veto it. ,e vote in the House was 283 -127, than the two-thirds needed to Le a Presidential veto. The bill prizes new water projects iifies old authorizations and Lizes new studies for the water .lopment program of the U.S. Army of Engineers. Such a bill has : been enacted into law since Mr. w has been President. A similar passed the House and Senate in but it got lost in the adjournment at the end of the 95th Congress, so conference report never cleared jress. It also faced the prospect of a like HR 4788. actly how many projects were iorized by the House in the latest ' bill and even how many ects are involved and their costs subjects of dispute at this point. The ironmental Study Conference nated the cost of the bill at $4.4 ie Office of Assistant Army etary Michael Blumenfield on Feb. stimated the cost of the bill as ed at about $3.1 billion and noted the Congressional Budget Office 3) had tacked on $1.2 billion for tion. This brought the total cost of lill to $4.3 billion, according to their nates, a source who has been wing the bill for Blumenfeld told lern Resources Wrap up (WRW). ie majority and minority staffs of House Public Works Committee rately estimated for WRW that the i of the bill totalled in the neigh-ood neigh-ood of $2 billion, and that there ; about 170-180 projects authorized, ified or revised or subject to study r HR 4788. ere is not even any agreement as hat projects were deauthorized in WRW was told by Hill sources the deauthorizations ranged from , and the Committee minority and irity staffs said the costs saved by thorization ranged from $3.4 to $3.6 m. Rep. William H. Harsha, R-, R-, ranking Republican on the House , iOnH'ocks.cPommiMee,,, estimated, authorizations in an amendment Rep. Floyd Fithian, D-Ind., as iliedby Rep. Allen E. Ertel, D-Pa., lively shelved 17 water projects h would have cost $2.3 billion if tructed. Most had local opposition, members from the affected ressional districts oppose them, deauthorization amendments ed the House by voice vote on Feb. ck of basic information in precise is on the bill results from a number nendments made to the bill during sultory two weeks of debate on the sure which started on Jan. 23 and not completed until Feb. 5. No one a copy of the final bill as it passed louse by Feb. 13. The House Public ks Committee deliberately left out overall cost figure in the bill, ex-'or ex-'or the mandatory CBO estimate, k WU as reported to the House on W, 1979. (H Rep. No. 96-508) VETO THREAT 'esident Carter, Blumenfeld and nor Secretary Cecil D. Andrus all ; turns insisting that the Adoration Ad-oration opposed the bill and atenmg a Presidential veto. ak'ng for the Administration, Weld wrote to Chairman Harold IB) Johnson, D-Calif., of the M Public Works Committee raising oon to no less than 150 projects Provisions in the bill! That covered " two-thirds of the entire bill. of the objections were on , .ural grounds-that the proposed onzations had not been reviewed uate r Resources Council as y Mr. Carter in 1979. This cularly infuriated the bill's sup- because there is no legislative 2lnmng for such an independent 1Kt rev'w by the Council. k?noDDn H' c'ausen, R-Calif., ' Republican on the House Resources Subcommittee, put irkm t ground PaPer refuting J8 the bill. In taking note of gfeld-, criticism that many J d'dn't have a final report, charged that "the Ad- KhvK?;created th'5 Problem" Riding up all but one report tingVfrimer of 1979- This was 8 cat icmues, even emergencies fenT8' where 000(1 contri Cl,been held UP due to dif-Jpei dif-Jpei Wn the President and over water policy, Clausen Iks-mir16 C,har8es of Pork-barrel ltng that always accompanv lfounH J!Cts' autiorization bills, MrT UJdlcalions here this week !ar's 111 may "mately sign Conte ption.. Rep. Silvio iter n'roi who f0111 tne S-1 Which Mr- Carter rtto Ju Conte successfully ,,tHouse t0 sustain, told eo-12 he felt certain that Mr. Carter will ultimately sign HR 4788 this year. "It's an election year for him" Conte stated, "and he ended up signing the 1978 appropriations public works bill after six projects were dropped." The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee has tentatively scheduled mark-up on its version of HR 4788 from March 11-13. Sens. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., and Daniel P. Moynihan, D-N.Y., are still working on making some changes in water policy acceptable to both Mr. Carter and Congress. Blumenfeld's office told WRW on Feb. 13 the Administration Ad-ministration is willing to work with Congress to come up with a bill that Mr. Carter can sign, a spokesman stated. Further analysis of this legislation will be made by WRW in the next few weeks. Four Western projects are of particular interest vis-a-vis HR 4788. One is authorization of a second power house at McNary Lock and Dam on the Columbia River in Oregon and Washington. The Administration objected ob-jected to this project solely on |