THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 14, 1995 TAG: 9509140348
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines
Several Virginia lawmakers are joining in a new congressional effort to head off the budgetary train wreck that is threatening to shut down most federal agencies - at least temporarily - on Oct. 1.
Legislation introduced or being prepared in both the House and Senate would permit federal employees to keep working, and keep getting paid, even if Congress has not approved their agencies' annual appropriations before the current budget expires Sept. 30.
Sen. John W. Warner, a Republican who is Virginia's senior lawmaker, plans to introduce one such bill today. In the House, Rep. Herbert H. Bateman of Newport News is a co-sponsor on similar legislation; several other state lawmakers say they intend to join him or support the bill without becoming a sponsor.
The stakes in a federal shutdown are huge for Virginia. More than 360,000 uniformed and civilian federal workers live in the state, according to figures compiled by the Federal Managers Association. And perhaps one-third of those workers live in Hampton Roads.
The possible shutdown is most worrisome to civilian employees, who could see one or more paychecks delayed, or perhaps lost altogether, if a new budget is unduly delayed. Federal laws already on the books probably would keep most of the military at work.
The bills being discussed would establish automatic interim spending plans, to take effect any time Congress fails to pass a new budget by the Sept. 30 deadline. Currently, a ``continuing resolution'' to keep the government operating must be approved by Congress and signed by the president in any year in which the budget isn't completed on time.
Clinton and Republican congressional leaders appeared Tuesday to agree in principle on such a resolution for the current budget. The deal was a break in the increasingly rancorous atmosphere surrounding budget negotiations between Clinton and the GOP.
``I don't think we'll have (a shutdown),'' Rep. Robert C. Scott, a Democrat whose district stretches from Norfolk to Richmond, said Wednesday. ``I think the discussions are in a cooperative mood. And in that framework, I think we can continue the business of the nation without disruption.''
Still, Scott said he is supporting efforts to permanently head off a budget crisis.
Proponents of that idea argue that it's more expensive to shut down the government, then bring people back to work after a furlough, than to keep agencies running while Congress and the president finish a new budget.
``Neither my constituents nor any of the other men and women who serve the American people should be forced to bear the brunt of political and substantive disagreements between President Clinton and Congress,'' Bateman said.
In a letter to other senators this week, Warner cited a General Accounting Office study in 1991 that found that just a three-day shutdown would cost taxpayers up to $600 million. by CNB