Birth and Death In the Night

On Carter's desk: 189 bills

Most Congressmen and Senators were back in their home districts last week, seeking new zest along the campaign trail after one of the most hectic congressional closings in modern times. Now it was up to President Carter and his aides to try to make sense out of the incredible pile of 189 bills--including a tax cut and an energy program--that the lawmakers had sent to the White House. Among the other significant legislative deaths and births during the last hours of the session:

Highways and Transit. A four-year, $51 billion appropriation, $6 billion more than Carter wanted, was enacted to increase the federal share of funding for non-interstate highways from 70% to 75%. The measure gives states the authority to transfer federal funds allocated for highways to mass-transit projects if they wish.

Airline Deregulation. The Civil Aeronautics Board was deprived of its power to control airline fares and routes. The airlines will be able to cut fares by 50% and initiate service to additional cities--but no more than one new route each year --without asking the CAB for approval.

Endangered Species. A new Cabinet level committee was created to balance economic factors against environmental concerns when dams and other projects conflict with the Endangered Species Act, which protects birds, fish and animals that are threatened with extinction. Congress directed the agency to decide within four months whether work can proceed on the $120 million Tellico dam in Tennessee, despite its threat to survival of the three-inch snail darter.

Minnesota Wilderness. Congress resolved a long dispute between environmentalists and commercial interests by deciding that Minnesota's Boundary Waters Canoe Area, a million-acre wilderness area along the state's border with Canada, should remain free of logging and mining. Moreover, motorboats and snowmobiles will be severely restricted.

Special Aid to Cities. A program under which states and thousands of cities with high unemployment last year received $1.3 billion in extra federal funds for job-generating public works projects ran into trouble in the House and was allowed to die by Speaker Tip O'Neill. The cities could take consolation, however, in last-minute continuation of the CETA program, under which 725,000 public service jobs were funded this year at a cost of $11 billion. If Administration forecasts of a 5.7% unemployment rate next year are accurate, the program will provide about 660,000 jobs, 65,000 fewer than the White House wanted.

Alaska Lands. A bill to protect some 100 million acres in Alaska against commercial exploitation died when Alaska Democratic Senator Mike Gravel, an all-or-nothing conservationist, walked out on meetings seeking a compromise between a strong House bill and a weaker measure in the Senate. The fight is expected to be joined again in the next Congress. But Congress did approve a $1.2 billion parks bill--dubbed "parksbarrel" by opponents--authorizing more than 128 projects from New Jersey to California. -

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