Senate approves money for housing, water treatment.

WASHINGTON -- The Senate approved a fiscal 1995 spending bill Thursday night for various housing programs and for wastewater and drinking water treatment facilities...

The vote was 86 to 9.

Under the bill, the Environmental Protection Agency's water infrastructure initiatives would receive $3.4 billion in the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. That compares with $2.73 billion approved by the House in June. The Clinton Administration's budget requested $1.91 billion.

Of the $3.4 billion in the Senate bill, $2 billion would go to state revolving loan funds for wastewater treatment plants, or nearly double the House level of $1.28 billion. The water infrastructure total includes $700 million for a state revolving fund being created to help finance drinking water treatment facilities; the same level as in the House bill.

Congress is working on separate bills to reauthorize the wastewater treatment and safe drinking water programs.

One bill would reauthorize the sixyear-old revolving loan program that many states use to help stretch their federal dollars by leveraging bonds to help build waste water treatment facilities.

The other would renew the safe drinking water act and establish a new revolving fund program to help finance construction of drinking water treatment facilities.

The Senate spending bill also sets higher funding levels for various housing programs at the Department of Housing and Urban Development than House lawmakers approved in June.

The HOME program would receive $1.5 billion, compared with $1.28 billion in the House and $1.1 billion requested by the Clinton Administration. HOME received $1.25 billion in fiscal 1994.

The Community Development Block Grant program would receive $4.6 billion under the Senate bill, the same as passed by the House. The administration had requested $4.4 billion, equal to the program's fiscal 1994 funding.

The Senate spent several days debating various amendments to the spending bill, including two by Ben. Bob Smith, R-N.H., to send the bill back to the Appropriations Committee to cut $1.4 billion from the bill and redistribute the funds.

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