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

DATE: SATURDAY, August 7, 1993                   TAG: 9308070216
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

$5.7 BILLION FLOOD RELIEF BILL PASSES

Congress passed and sent to the White House on Friday a $5.7 billion spending bill to repair damage from months of flooding and heavy rain in the Midwest.

The measure also provides aid to farmers suffering crop losses this year from the Southeastern drought and weather problems elsewhere.

Approving the measure by a voice vote, the House made only minor changes in the bill passed Wednesday by the Senate. The Senate accepted the House measure Friday on a voice vote without debate or dissent. President Clinton was expected to sign it quickly.

Clinton requested or endorsed all the items in the aid package, which totaled only $2.5 billion when he introduced it July 14 in waterlogged Des Moines, Iowa.

The amount of aid has steadily grown with the scope of the disaster, and will continue to rise as the flood waters recede.

Damage has been estimated at $12 billion.

by CNB