The Nation - News from Sept. 28, 1988

The House, on a 392-13 vote, passed legislation providing $10.8 billion in new spending for transportation. Besides providing the new spending for fiscal 1989, the measure, which was sent to the Senate, would allow the government to spend another $14.7 billion on transportation programs, money that would come from various federal taxes on fuel and air travel. The bill would funnel $3.2 billion to mass transit, $12.2 billion to highway programs, $6.3 billion to aviation and $2.8 billion to the Coast Guard. Among other things, it provides a $584-million grant for Amtrak, the national passenger railroad. The legislation also would block the construction of a shopping mall in Manassas, Va., near the site of two Civil War battles.