D.C. DEALT MAJOR BLOW ON MANDATES

The District government's bid to strike a series of congressionally
imposed mandates from next year's budget suffered what might be
the final setback yesterday, when a joint House-Senate conference
committee endorsed a bill that maintains all of the so-called social riders.

Bans prohibiting the District from legalizing marijuana for medical
purposes or spending money on a needle-exchange program for drug
addicts are now in both the House and Senate bills, as is language
that would allow two cellular phone towers to be built in Rock Creek
Park without additional local review. Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D)
and other District officials had asked the conference members to
eliminate the riders, several of which had been in only one of the two
versions of the bill. But on every matter brought up for debate
yesterday, the riders were endorsed by the Republican-dominated
conference committee.

The joint bill now goes back to the House and Senate for a final
vote--perhaps before the end of this weekend--then to President
Clinton for his signature or veto.

"It stinks," said Rep. James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va), who tried yesterday
to eliminate several of the riders. "All we are talking about is
letting the District of Columbia operate like any other city in the
country does."

Ultimately, the conference committee agreed to a budget plan that
appropriates $429 million in federal funds for the city, mostly for
programs such as the corrections system and courts. The total District
budget--including capital spending, enterprise funds and its $4.7
billion general fund--would be $6.8 billion.

The bill included tens of millions of dollars in extra money for a
variety of city programs, such as expanded drug treatment and a $5
million cleanup of the Anacostia River. For that reason, Democrats
were split late yesterday on whether they would urge Clinton to veto
the District's budget bill for fiscal 2000.

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) said the riders are so offensive
that Clinton should follow through on a veto threat his staff made
again yesterday. But Moran, the ranking House Democrat on the District
budget panel, said, "It is a tough call."

Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) asked the conference members yesterday
to compromise by just banning the expenditure of federal funds on a
District needle-exchange program, while allowing the city to spend its
own money for the AIDS-prevention effort.

But Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Tex.) said the exchange might
increase drug use without doing much to slow the spread of the virus
that causes AIDS, an argument that prevailed. Republicans also noted
that a nonprofit city agency already operates a needle-exchange
program with private funds.

The bill endorsed yesterday also bans city spending on abortions or on
health benefits for domestic partners. The conference committee
adopted House language that would allow the city to count votes on the
1998 initiative on legalizing marijuana to treat certain medical
conditions. But as approved by the House, the joint bill now would
prevent the initiative from becoming law, even if voters approved it.

The joint Senate-House bill, if passed into law, would also allow Bell
Atlantic Mobile to begin building two cellular phone towers in Rock
Creek Park within a week after the budget goes into effect in October.
The National Capital Planning Commission has not given final approval
for the towers, which Bell Atlantic says are necessary to prevent
"dead zones" in cellular service in the park, but the budget bill
instructs the National Park Service to issue the permits anyway.

Rep. Ernest J. Istook Jr. (Okla.) asked his Republican colleagues to
cut a provision banning the city from spending money on a lawsuit
seeking voting rights for the District in Congress. Despite support
from Democrats on the request, Istook's motion failed.

In several cases, the conference committee cut requests by the House
for extra money for special initiatives, such as providing drug
treatment for addicts who are on parole, probation or awaiting trail.
That program would now get $7 million, instead of $13 million. But few
of the special programs were eliminated entirely.

Extra funds adopted by the conference committee include:

* $5 million--instead of $8.5 million--to accelerate the placement of
foster care children into adoptive homes.

* $18 million--instead of $20 million--to allow the city to reduce
its payroll by offering severance packages to city employees.

* $5 million--instead of $7.5 million--for design work to expand the
14th Street bridge by one lane in each direction.

* $5 million--as proposed by the Senate--to allow the city to offer
tax credits to property owners who renovate stores or businesses in
rundown neighborhoods of the city.

* $1 million--as proposed by the Senate--for the police department to
crack down on open-air drug markets.