HOUSE, SENATE CONFEREES APPROVE LOBBYING REFORMS

PLAN WOULD FORCE RECIPIENTS OF U.S. CONTRACTS TO REVEAL PAYMENTS MADE TO INFLUENCE GOVERNMENT

House and Senate conferees approved a lobbying reform measure yesterday that for the first time will require recipients of federal grants, contracts and loans to make a public accounting of their payments to lobbyists to influence Congress and government departments.

The provision will affect defense contractors, state and municipal governments, universities, private institutions, housing developers and all others who receive grants and contracts of more than $100,000. It also will ban the use of appropriated funds to pay lobbyists and consultants.

The measure was seen as an important step in providing public information about the multimillion-dollar lobbying and consulting business that affects the allocation of federal resources. Its speedy passage through a House-Senate conference on the 1990 appropriations bill for the Interior Department was a sign of heightened congressional concern over ethics -- and the public's perception of Congress -- in the wake of scandals involving money and influence-peddling.

The conferees cleared the measure with almost no discussion after its main sponsor, Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.), agreed to minor changes. One of those allows companies to use the profits earned from government contracts to pay lobbyists.

The change had been sought by the defense industry, and caused one lobbyist to complain that it discriminated against nonprofit organizations and municipal governments, which do not earn "profits" and would be forbidden from using any of their grant money to pay a Washington representative.

The revised language also gives the secretary of defense authority to waive the provisions in the "national interest," but the secretary would have to notify Congress in writing in each case. Another change exempted Indian tribes from the reporting requirements. Payments for strictly professional or technical services do not have to be reported.

The Byrd initiative had strong support in the House, where a version was introduced by Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.), chairman of the subcommittee on employment and housing now investigating abuses at the Department of Housing and

Urban Development, including

the award of large "consulting"

fees to former government offi- cials.

The same group of conferees that approved the lobbying changes yesterday also authorized dozens of home-state and home-district projects involving visitor centers, historic sites, parks, and wildlife refuges as part of the annual Interior Department spending bill.

In a dramatic turnabout, Rep. Joseph M. McDade (R-Pa.), a House conferee, succeeded in getting $12 million restored to the bill for construction of the Steamtown National Historic Site in Scranton, Pa., located in his district.

"Could you go down to 10?" Byrd asked at one point. McDade pleaded for more, saying, "They're all ready to go." Moments later Byrd relented. "Would you settle for

12?" he asked. "Yes, sir," said McDade.

Nearby, at a House-Senate conference on the annual budget bill for the Treasury Department and Postal Service, a deal appeared to have been struck that would result in the approval of virtually every new building project sought by both sides. Eight university construction projects -- five sought by the House and three by the Senate -- would apparently be salvaged by the deal. The projects, which are also included in the Senate defense appropriations bill, have been tangled in jurisdictional battles.

Articles appear as they were originally printed in The Washington Post and may not include subsequent corrections.