Jamie L Whitten

The chairman of the House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday proposed legislation that would provide $8.8 billion in relief for areas of South Florida and Louisiana devastated by Hurricane Andrew--$1.2 billion more than President Bush requested. The draft proposal, by Chairman Jamie L. Whitten (D-Miss.), is expected to be considered soon by the panel and rushed through the full House.

The House Appropriations Committee on Thursday approved a 45-day stopgap money bill needed to keep many government agencies running past Oct. 1 because the regular spending bills have not been passed. On a voice vote, the committee easily approved the measure, which calls for the agencies to be funded at the level of House-passed money bills or at last year's level, whichever is lower. The bill now goes to the full House.

A House committee today beat back an attempt by a Mississippi congressman to add new strictures to the kinds of work the National Endowment for the Arts should support. It was unclear whether the defeat of the restrictive wording offered by Democratic Rep. Jamie L. Whitten was predictive of the fate the NEA faces in Congress this year, but today's committee vote touched off a new round of speculation that the climax of the 15-month controversy is at hand.

The House voted Tuesday to halt NASA's efforts to build a more powerful shuttle engine, as lawmakers eager to show concern about the budget deficit put the rocket motor on the verge of extinction. By a 401-30 margin, lawmakers voted to end work on the advanced solid rocket motor, which is under way in Mississippi. It was the third time this year the House had voted to terminate the program, but this time the Senate is likely to drop its support for the engine.

The Senate Appropriations Committee approved legislation Thursday to provide $7.2 billion in disaster relief for storm-ravaged South Florida and Louisiana but rejected President Bush's request for nearly $500 million to reconstruct devastated Homestead Air Force Base. The package, to be considered by the full Senate early next week, is only slightly smaller than the $7.6-billion proposal outlined earlier by the President.

In the glory days of pork-barrel legislation in Congress, members from the South and the West were particularly adept at bringing home water projects to benefit their areas. The Southern and Western states had learned that seniority counts in such things. They would keep their senators and representatives in Congress term after term so that they built up enough seniority to become chairmen of the right committees and subcommittees.

President Reagan renewed his pitch for congressional approval of MX missile funds today, with House Appropriations Committee Democrats differing on his outlook for success. "I predict a narrow victory," said Rep. Norman D. Dicks (D-Wash.), an MX supporter, after a meeting with the President and other Administration officials at the White House. But Rep. Joseph P. Addabbo (D-N.Y.

--John C. Stennis, 87, Senate president pro tem and third in line for the presidency, received a fond farewell from 250 Mississippians who gathered in the Senate Caucus Room. Stennis, after 41 years in the Senate, is retiring to De Kalb, his hometown, where, his staff members said, he will spend much of his time persuading young people to enter public service. "John Stennis has served longer and better than any man in the history of this country," Rep. Jamie L. Whitten (D-Miss.

House and Senate negotiators agreed Tuesday to spend $2.1 billion next year to continue building the controversial space station Freedom, scheduled for launch beginning in late 1995. Although the compromise figure is $125 million less than sought by the Bush Administration, officials of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said the accord will permit work on the station to proceed on schedule.