Waste, water high on agenda

Benjamin Grove

Wednesday, Sept. 8, 1999 | 10:48 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Nevada lawmakers expect a flurry of activity on issues ranging from nuclear waste storage and Indian gaming to earmarking money for projects at Lake Tahoe and Lake Mead as Congress got back to business today for the final two months of this year's session.

But first they are expected to devote a good deal of time and debate to the Republican proposal to cut taxes by $792 billion, which President Clinton is expected to veto soon. The three Nevada Democrats in Congress, Rep. Shelley Berkley, Sen. Richard Bryan and Sen. Harry Reid, did not vote for the proposal, saying it cost too much. Nevada's lone Republican, Rep. Jim Gibbons, supported the tax cut.

"We can't afford it," Reid, also the House Minority Whip, said Tuesday, joining a chorus of politicians who advocate using more of the estimated budget surpluses to lower the nation's $5.6 trillion debt.

Reid has said such a massive tax cut threatens Social Security, although he does not oppose a smaller tax cut with breaks for the high-tech industry to train workers and complete research.

"I could support $200 billion to $300 billion" in cuts, Reid said.

Gibbons also supports using budget surpluses to lower the debt, but said the nation can afford to give taxpayers a break.

"If the president insists on vetoing it, then we'll have to work with him -- he is the president -- and work with him to see where we may be able to compromise," Gibbons said. "This money today is in the taxpayers' pockets, and they deserve to keep that money in their pockets."

Congress members will also devote much of their attention to 11 of 13 appropriations bills that they have not yet passed both houses, as well as proposals to overhaul Medicare and Social Security. Congress must approve the appropriations bills to avert a government shutdown.

Berkley said she had her hands full "valiantly fighting" for a number of provisions that would funnel federal money to Nevada, including money for flood control, water treatment and road signs that warn motorists of upcoming traffic tie-ups.

"We need to put away this ridiculous partisan squabbling and we must roll up our sleeves and find out a way to work together to preserve Social Security, to preserve Medicare and establish an educational system that will serve our children in the 21st century," Berkley said.

Among the appropriations bills is the Interior Appropriations bill, which includes millions of dollars worth of Nevada projects. The bill would earmark $5.25 million for further Lake Tahoe projects and $150,000 to complete an ongoing study of endocrine disruption in fish at Lake Mead. At stake also is $3.8 million in water-treatment money. The bill also includes legislation that could affect Las Vegas businesses that provide air tours of the Grand Canyon.

Congress was scheduled to pick up the Interior Appropriations bill as early as this afternoon.

Legislation relating to Yucca Mountain is also likely to surface in the next few weeks. Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, is the only site being studied for a repository that would hold the nation's high-level nuclear waste.

At issue is whether the Environmental Protection Agency or the Nuclear Regulatory Commission should establish what are safe levels of radiation released inside the mountain. Bryan and Reid believe the EPA, not nuclear interests, should set the standards.

"I think nuclear waste is very likely to come up" this session, Bryan said today.

Bryan is also pushing to reduce a subsidy paid by the federal government to logging companies. The companies use the money to help pay for roads they build in national forests. Bryan wants about $34 million of those dollars back. He wants to use about $21 million of it for U.S. Forest Service programs.

The senators are also backing an amendment that would take power away from Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt in disputes between states and Indian tribes that offer gaming on their reservations.

Some of the other issues at stake: