WASHINGTON - The Senate is expected to begin debate today on the urban aid tax bill, congressional aides said yesterday.
"That is the goad," said a spokesman for Sen. Lloyd Bentsen, D-Tex., chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, which approved the package last Wednesday. The bill would expand the use of municipal bonds in enterprise zones, renew two expired bond programs, and ease various tax law bond curbs.
A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, D-Maine, said the Senate would probably begin debate on the bill today, but that Sen. Mitchell had not yet made a firm decision.
Senate leaders are pushing for a quick vote so tax lawmakers can begin reconciling differences between that measure and the House urban aid bill before Congress adjourns Aug. 13 for a four-week recess, congressional aides said.
But Sen. Bentsen's spokesman said "there is no hope" the urban aid bill conference could be completed before Aug. 13.
Among its provisions, the bill would permit issuance of a new category of exempt-facility bond, the proceeds of which could be used to purchase land, buildings, and equipment used by enterprise zone businesses.
The legislation would also renew the tax exemptions for mortgage revenue bonds and small-issue industrial development bonds and extend them through Dec. 31, 1993. The two exemptions expired June 30.
In addition, the measure includes a host of proposals to ease various tax law bond curbs, particularly the arbitrage rebate requirement.
