House OKs $110 Million for Metro Rail in 1987

WASHINGTON —  The House voted Wednesday to pump more cash into the long-stalled Los Angeles Metro Rail project, as it overwhelmingly approved a $10.3-billion fiscal 1987 transportation spending bill to pay for a wide variety of federally assisted road, rail, air and sea programs.

The measure, approved by a 329-87 margin, earmarks $110 million in construction funds for the first 4.4-mile leg of the subway project, on which local transit officials hope to begin work as early as this fall.

There was no opposition or debate over the Metro Rail money, which, if approved by the Senate and President Reagan, would be added to $225.3 million for the project recently released from an embargo by the Administration.

The fate of the latest Metro Rail funding measure remains unclear, however, because the White House has expressed strong opposition to several parts of the overall transportation bill.

Ground-breaking for the project had been stalled for several years by the White House, which claimed that Metro Rail was a waste of federal money and blocked the release to Los Angeles-area transit authorities of money approved by Congress.

However, the Administration agreed to distribute the funds earlier this month.