ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Friday, March 8, 1996                  TAG: 9603080104
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL   PAGE: A5   EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS

HOUSE OKS SPENDING MEASURE

In a fresh round of budget brinksmanship, the House narrowly approved a bill Thursday aimed at avoiding a new federal shutdown but billions shy of what President Clinton wants for domestic programs.

Congress moved on another front to head off an unprecedented and politically explosive federal default by voting to temporarily give the Treasury Department extra borrowing authority. But even with that issue solved for now, a yawning gap exists between the two sides over how to keep the government running.

Five months into fiscal 1996, the House voted 209-206, with Virginia representatives voting along party lines, for a Republican-written measure financing dozens of government departments and agencies for the rest of the year. Temporary authority for these programs expires March 15; without new funds, there would be a third partial government shutdown since November - an unlikely outcome that neither party wants.

With moderate Republicans upset by low spending levels for some programs and abortion restrictions, GOP leaders lobbied hard all day to ensure the measure's passage.

``Had we not passed it, the odds for closing down government would have been astronomically higher,'' a relieved House Appropriations Committee Chairman Bob Livingston, R-La., told reporters

A temporary truce was struck on another budget battlefield.

The House voted, 362-51, to extend the Treasury Department's ability to pay federal debts through March 29, with all Virginia representatives voting for the extension; the Senate followed with a voice vote that shipped the legislation to Clinton for his expected signature. Without the extension of borrowing authority, the government would face a first-ever default March 21 - which could probably trigger a financial upheaval neither party wants to be blamed for.

The House spending bill is a less generous version of a measure the Senate plans to debate Monday.

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