
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 9, 1990                   TAG: 9003092078
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                 LENGTH: Short

CLEAN AIR AMENDMENT VOTED DOWN

The Senate, in its first major vote on a compromise clean air bill, rejected a proposal to tighten controls on toxic air pollution Thursday night after Senate leaders said it threatened their agreement with the White House.

The vote to kill the amendment was 65-33.

The amendment, one of a string expected to be brought to the floor aimed at tougher controls on air pollution, would have required additional controls on toxic emissions from automobiles.

The vote was seen as an indicator of the strength of support for a compromise worked out by Senate leaders and the Bush administration to ease Senate approval for the first toughening of federal air pollution controls in 13 years.

Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., called his amendment necessary to protect citizens from cancer-causing chemicals, noting more than half of such chemical releases come from automobiles, trucks and buses.

But the measure, opposed by the Bush administration because of its reported $1.5 billion price tag, was described by Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., as a "deal breaker" - meaning its passage would cause a compromise agreement with the Bush administration on clean air to fall apart.

"If this amendment passes the deal will be off, the deal will be busted and there very well could be no clean air act," said Baucus, a floor manager for the bill, shortly before the vote.

Both Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, D-Maine, and Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan., the minority leader, asked that the amendment be rejected.

A similar bill remains in committee in the House.

by CNB