DATE: Friday, September 12, 1997            TAG: 9709120594

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A12  EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: STAFF AND WIRE REPORT 

DATELINE: WASHINGTON                        LENGTH:   65 lines

SENATE'S $145 BILLION HIGHWAY PLAN WOULD GIVE MORE MONEY TO VIRGINIA

A bipartisan group of senators unveiled a six-year, $145 billion proposal Thursday for reshaping the chief federal highway programs. Unlike a costlier House version announced earlier this week, Senate sponsors said, their plan conforms with a deal to balance the overall federal budget.

Even so, the Senate bill - written by leaders of the Environment and Public Works Committee - is not without controversy. Although its authors said the measure dispensed money fairly and made a point of showing off its bipartisan support, two big-state senators on the committee were conspicuously absent as sponsors: Daniel Patrick Moynihan, D-N.Y., and Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J.

``The Senate now has a comprehensive, six-year, consensus bill to reauthorize the national highway program,'' said Sen. John Chafee, R-R.I., the committee chairman.

The bill is a feather in the political cap of Sen. John W. Warner of Virginia, who led the subcommittee responsible for drafting it. Warner was praised by Republicans and Democrats alike Thursday for assembling a bill with strong appeal to lawmakers from every region of the country.

For Virginia, the bill would provide an average of almost $565 million per year in federal highway aid, about $150 million more than the state has been receiving annually over the past six years. North Carolina would receive almost $624 million annually, $145 million more than it has been getting.

Like the House bill, the Senate measure would shift more spending to Southern and Western states, whose populations have grown in recent years. In an effort to keep all states happy, the bill guarantees that each will receive road-building money equal to at least 90 percent of the funds its motorists pay to the federal government in the form of gasoline taxes.

Virginia has been receiving aid equal to only 79 percent of its gas tax collections.

Overall, the measure contains 20 percent more spending than was provided under the current highway program, which expires Sept. 30. Even so, Warner and Chafee insisted it will not impede efforts to balance the budget. The bill ``starts out, leaves the station, balanced,'' Warner said.

But because the bill would change the formulas under which much of the money is distributed to states, some lawmakers were unhappy.

``Other than anger, rage, disgust, I like it,'' Lautenberg said. ``I thought New Jersey got shortchanged.''

The House Transportation Committee's surface transportation subcommittee approved a three-year, $103 billion plan Wednesday by a voice vote.

But that measure, written by panel Chairman Bud Shuster, R-Pa., and other committee members, is opposed by House GOP leaders because it would exceed transportation spending envisioned by the budget agreement by at least $34 billion.

The Shuster bill would give Virginia an average of $618 million annually in highway aid, $203 million more than current law.

Shuster argues that his bill is not a budget buster, but he and House leaders have been negotiating in hopes of crafting a smaller bill. But he has threatened to try to force a House vote on the measure even without GOP leaders, which he can do if a majority of representatives sign a petition demanding a vote.

Lawmakers would like to enact new legislation by the time Congress adjourns for the year sometime this autumn. But because of the various disputes, lawmakers may end up simply extending current law for a year and revisiting the issue in 1998.

Both the House Transportation and Senate Environment and Public Works committees plan votes on the bills next week. MEMO: This story was compiled from reports by The Associated Press and

staff writer Dale Eisman.

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