HOUSE FACES PRESSURE TO TOUGHEN DRUNK-DRIVING LAWS

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Supporters of tougher drunk-driving laws pressed
House members Wednesday to impose a national blood alcohol limit of .08
percent as part of a major transportation funding bill set for debate next
week.

With the backing of the White House, the Senate passed a transportation
package two weeks ago that told all states to lower their blood alcohol
limits to .08 percent, or face the loss of millions of dollars in federal
highway funds.

The House legislation only offers incentives for states to make the change
and would not penalize states that do not comply.

Congressional backers of the .08 percent standard said they have enough
support to hold up efforts to pass a transportation funding package if the
Senate's stiffer drunk-driving measure is not included in legislation sent
to President Clinton. ``This will be showdown at the OK Corral. Proponents
will indeed hold up transportation spending if it is not included,'' said a
Democratic staff member familiar with the issue.

The push for the lower blood alcohol standard comes amid a heated lobbying
effort by both sides of the issue, pitting groups like Mothers Against
Drunk Driving (MADD) against lobbyists for the beverage and hospitality
industries.

Restaurant and bar owners believe the .08 percent standard would scare
people away from their establishments for fear of being arrested for drunk
driving. They say a 120-lb woman would reach the limit after two six-ounce
glasses of wine consumed over two hours. MADD uses the same data to argue
that a 170-lb man would have to drink four beers in an hour on an empty
stomach to reach the limit.

Supporters of the lower limit say the current U.S. standard of .10 percent
is higher than any other industrialized country, noting that in Britain
blood alcohol limits are .08 percent and France considers .05 percent
legally drunk behind the wheel.

A group of legislators joined MADD advocates at a Capitol Hill briefing
Wednesday to press for the lower limits.

``This is a debate about saving lives,'' said Rep. Nita Lowey, Democrat of
New York, noting 600 deaths a year would be prevented if all 50 states
enacted the .08 standard. Only 15 states currently have .08 percent as the
drunk driving limit.

A spokesman for the American Beverage Institute (ABI) said the .08 percent
measure would not work. ``Regardless of how low you go, it does not address
the carnage (of alcohol-related traffic deaths),'' according to ABI
spokesman John Doyle.

U.S. drivers involved in fatal drunk driving accidents had an average blood
alcohol level of .17 percent, Doyle said.

The House Transportation Committee on Tuesday unanimously agreed to boost
spending on the nation's roads and transit by 43 percent when it passed the
six-year, $217 billion Building Efficient Surface Transportation and Equity
Act (BESTEA). The bill would reauthorize the Intermodal Surface
Transportation and Efficiency Act (ISTEA), which ended last year.

The Senate approved its own six-year, $214 billion ISTEA earlier in March.
Both chambers were racing to send Clinton a final transportation bill
before supplemental funding expires April 30.