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<br />WESTERN
<br />STATE
<br />
<br />F
<br />
<br />W A TERf
<br />
<br />EIVED
<br />30'1995
<br />
<br />May 26, 1995
<br />Issue No. 1097
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<br />THE WEEKLY NEWSLETTER OF THE WESTERN STATES WATER COUNCIL
<br />
<br />Creekview Plaza, Suite A-~Or; 942EaSt7145S~, rMidvale, Utah 84047/ (8Q1) 56l-5JOO/FAX (80i) 255-9642
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<br />Chairman - Larry Anderson; Executive Director - Craig Bell; Editor -Craig Bell; Typist - Alana Bariks
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<br />CONGRESSIONAL UPDATE
<br />
<br />Budget
<br />
<br />Despite last ditch efforts by Senate Republicans to
<br />appeal to President Clinton to sign a $16.4 billion
<br />spending cut bill, a presidential veto seemed a certainty.
<br />The Senate passed the bill May 25th by a vote of 61-38.
<br />The House passed the bill ,last week by a 235-189 vote,
<br />less than the two thirds needed to override a veto. The
<br />cuts include $1.3 billion in unused FY94 and FY95
<br />revolving loan funds under the Safe Drinking Water Act.
<br />
<br />The president says he supports cutting money from
<br />previously, app~ovecr federal budgets, but he has
<br />promised to veto the Republican-crafted bill for taking
<br />too much money from education, environment, job
<br />training and housing programs. This would be Clinton's
<br />first veto in more than two years in offic~. The billalso
<br />includes new spending of $6.7 billion for California and
<br />ether states hit by natural disasters, and $250 million fer
<br />anti-terrorism efforts in the wake of the Oklahoma City
<br />bombing. This makes, a veto politically risky; However,
<br />the supplementalspendinl:) is expected to resurface in,
<br />another package of spending cuts.> " "',.:
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<br />The cOnfrOntation over the resClssioribill'came in tile
<br />context of greater battles likely to collie' as Republicans
<br />seek to cut at least $1 trillion from proposed spending
<br />levels to balance the budget by 2002.' In the area of
<br />natural resources and the environment, spending under
<br />the Senate resolution would fall over the 7 -year period
<br />(1996-2002), to $15.8 billion in budget authority and to
<br />16.6 billion in outlays, down from $19,5 billion in budget
<br />authority and $20.4 billion in outlays in 1996. Total
<br />sl'!,Vings from the Senate resoiution Would amount to
<br />$32.4 billion in budget authority and $23.7 billion ,in
<br />outlays when compared to Congressional Budget Office
<br />estimates of future budget deficits absent the resolution.
<br />Specifically, the resolution recommends, among other
<br />things, a three-year phase-out of grants to state
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<br />revolving fund$.for statewatefinfrastruc.iure projec!s;
<br />reducing Q\lt!,aysby $5:3 b'illionby 2000, ,This compares ,
<br />with the Hous.e Budget committee proposal reducing the
<br />federal contribution to the state revolving loan fund by
<br />$1.754 billiQn GlVer five years imd bY$2:~76'billion over
<br />seven years. Last year, ,$2.769 billion was'appropriated
<br />for water infrastructurefunding"includirig$700 million for
<br />, a yet-to-be authorized drinking water state revolving loan
<br />fund. The budget figures contrast with t/1e $3 billion'per
<br />year in infrastructure financingautho'iized by H.R.961,
<br />passed last week by the House (WSW #1 096),
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<br />The Senate resolution would also elimlna,te
<br />"duplicate programs" in the Departments of Agriculture
<br />and Interior accept the Administration's reductions for
<br />the Army Corps of. Enl:)ineers an~)he Bureau of
<br />,:Reclamation, reduclngoutlaysl:)yi,$1,~billion by 2000,
<br />"cut the Nati6halOceanic Atinospneric Administration by
<br />5 percent, and reduce by 10 percent the operating
<br />budgets of the Forest Service, National Park Service,
<br />Fish and Wildiife Service, Bureau of Land Management
<br />and dissolve th,e, Natio/l~I.J3iologicaIServjce<, ,The
<br />resoluiiOn,'i'ls9:,~bh.l~iiip,I~~s',teasilm app.roxiimltely8
<br />percent 6f:tI:1~:Ar.cticNC!-li9nal Wildlife Refugefor oil and
<br />gas exploration" atjvatizing, Jhe nallal petrolei,/m
<br />reserves, and sellinl:); the Alask<l" ,Southe<lstern,
<br />Southwester~, ,and ,,Western '. power marketing
<br />administratiori~ n(see related article below). These
<br />privatization measures are important because revenues
<br />from such sales are counted toward deficit reduction. If
<br />they do not occur, the responsible committees will have
<br />to make up the, funds through some other revenue
<br />source or additional spending reductions,
<br />
<br />The House has already passed its budget resolution,
<br />which also calls for a balanced budget by the year 2002.
<br />These resolutions face several hurdles. A conference
<br />committee will have to iron out differences between the
<br />Senate and the House and both houses will have to
<br />affirm the conference committee report, Authorizing
<br />committees would then need to rewrite laws to comply
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