Nevada funding delayed

Benjamin Grove

Wednesday, Sept. 29, 1999 | 2:28 a.m.

WASHINGTON --Millions of federal dollars earmarked for Nevada projects are wrapped in the spending bills that Congress will fail to pass by midnight Thursday, the end of the fiscal year.

Disagreements among Congress members have festered on a variety of topics, so Congress members on Sept. 23 voted to give themselves until Oct. 21 to pass the 13 appropriations bills that keep government running. That means states such as Nevada will have to wait another three weeks to find out how much federal money is headed their way.

By granting themselves a three-week extension, Congress members averted a government shutdown.

"That was the responsible thing to do," Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev., said in an interview. "It's going to take some time to work things out."

Congress this week has been clumsily pushing to pass bills that allocate money to such departments as Interior, Defense, Transportation, Education, Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development. Only one of the 13 bills, one that pays for military construction projects, has been signed by the president. Several others -- budgets for the Legislative branch and Treasury -- await his signature after passing Congress.

The military construction bill provided $18.6 million for three new buildings at Nellis Air Force Base to eventually house the F-22 fighter jet now in development and which would be tested at Nellis.

Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., a former fighter pilot, has been an active supporter of jet funding.

"As long as the program continues, he considers it a win," Gibbons spokesman Jay Cranford said today.

The appropriation bills include $29 million for flood abatement projects in Las Vegas to prevent future calamities like the July 8 flood. That money is woven into a water and energy appropriations bill.

"Had this been in place, we would have had half as much damage," Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said.

A sampling of the bills that have not yet been approved by Congress or signed into law by Clinton:

"This would shut down the Nevada mining industry," Gibbons said.

The federal money that flows to Nevada for education is also in question. Most money for school budgets come from local sources in Clark County, but the federal government pays for some programs aimed at schools with high percentages of poor students. Clark County could lose $2.5 million of its federal money, according to one budget proposal, Bryan said. "These kinds of cuts would be absolutely unconscionable," said Bryan, who has been critical of "budgetary gimmicks" that Congress has discussed using to pass its spending bills.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., criticized his colleagues for not getting their work done on time.

"We've spent a lot of time treading water, going nowhere," Reid said on the Senate floor. "We have to do something meaningful. That means we have to make some tough decisions."