Capital Briefs: Clinton Seen Backing Curb on Cleanup Liability

President Clinton is expected to urge Congress to pass stand-alone legislation limiting the extent of lenders' responsibility for chemical cleanups.

While the President has previously backed lender liability legislation as part of a broad overhaul of the Superfund environmental law, he now believes the measure is too important to be tied to the fate of other bills, an administration source said Thursday.

The banking industry has been seeking this protection since 1989, but lender liability legislation has repeatedly fallen victim to unrelated squabbles.

Regulatory relief measures in the House and Senate contain provisions limiting a lender's responsibility for contaminated properties, as does Superfund reform legislation. But those bills have been mired in unrelated conflicts, making the President's push for a stand-alone bill especially significant.

"Because the Superfund issue has become caught up in politics, we think it is vital to get lender liability passed this year," said John Byrne, senior counsel for the American Bankers Association. "We're ready to make the case to Congress for stand-alone lender liability legislation."