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

DATE: SUNDAY, November 21, 1993                   TAG: 9311210038
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

SENATE APPROVES MONEY TO FINISH THRIFT CLEANUP

The Senate on Saturday approved $18.3 billion to finish the savings and loan cleanup, ending a political snafu that slowed the program for more than a year and a half.

The vote was 54-45 for the compromise legislation, which still must be approved by the House.

In addition to appropriating $18.3 billion for the Resolution Trust Corp., the bill authorizes, subject to a separate congressional appropriation vote, up to $8 billion for a successor agency, the Savings Association Insurance Fund.

If all the money is spent, that would bring the total taxpayer cost of the S&L bailout since 1987 to more than $150 billion.

Sen. Howard Metzenbaum, D-Ohio, had threatened to block final passage with a filibuster. He objected to the amount provided and wanted tougher provisions extending the statute of limitation for government lawsuits against people involved in thrift failures.

The bill extends the limit for filing suits from three years after the date of failure to five years, but only for cases involving fraud or intentional wrongdoing.

Metzenbaum wanted the extension also to cover less serious suits involving only negligence.

A House-Senate conference committee on Thursday cleared the way for final congressional passage when, by voice vote, it adopted a compromise version.

by CNB