By Eric Pianin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, March 5 1998; Page A12

The Senate yesterday voted to force states to adopt tough uniform drunk driving standards or suffer the loss of federal highway funds as part of a massive highway reauthorization bill that would dramatically boost spending over the next six years.

The highway legislation constitutes one of the largest pots of money Congress will divvy up this year and is tailored to respond to the states' demand for increased spending for highway, bridge and mass transit construction and safety programs at a time of bulging surpluses in the federal highway trust fund.

The Senate's action imposing tough national drunk driving standards marks an important victory for traffic safety groups including Mothers Against Drunk Driving and the National Safety Council. On Tuesday President Clinton signed an executive order imposing the tougher standards on federal property, including military bases and national parks.

Under the provision approved 62 to 32 by the Senate, states that refuse to lower the legal blood-alcohol limit to 0.08 percent by the year 2001 would be penalized 5 percent of their federal highway construction dollars and by 10 percent thereafter.

The legal limit in most states is 0.10 percent, but there has been a growing movement to lower the standard to 0.08. Already, 15 states, including Virginia, have adopted the tougher standard. Senate forces led by Frank R. Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) overcame opposition from the liquor industry and states' rights advocates to pass the measure.

Senate Majority Whip Don Nickles (R-Okla.), a leading opponent, argued that the provision would unreasonably intrude upon the states' prerogatives in combating drunk driving and that the proposed penalties were too harsh. "This is a heavy stick," he said. "This is a dagger."

Lautenberg dismissed the complaints of opponents, saying they were more concerned about "process" than public safety. "The issue is whether or not we want to say to every American parent we've done something more to save perhaps your child, or your grandchild or your sister or your brother," he said.

Forty-one percent of all motor vehicle fatalities are alcohol-related, according to the National Safety Council. If every state adopted the 0.08 blood-alcohol standard, an estimated 500 to 600 lives could be saved every year, according to the council.

Although the measure received bipartisan support in the Senate -- with 26 Republicans joining with 36 Democrats to approve it, the outlook is dimmer in the House. Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bud Shuster (R-Pa.) is opposed, arguing, "The best way to encourage states to curb drunk driving is by providing incentives, not threats." House Majority Leader Richard K. Armey (R-Tex.) described the proposal as "a tough one" to pass.

A deal worked out this week by Senate GOP and Democratic leaders would increase highway spending to $173 billion over the next six years, a hike of more than 40 percent over previous years. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman John H. Chafee (R-R.I.) pushed for acceptance of the agreement throughout the day, but concerns raised by lawmakers from Michigan and Florida forced a postponement of a vote until today.

Under the agreement, the Senate would spend about $51 billion more on construction than was permitted under the 1991 highway legislation and nearly $26 billion more than originally recommended by Chafee's committee. House leaders are discussing spending levels somewhat higher.

Of the increased funds, $18.9 billion would be apportioned directly to the states, $1.9 billion would go for highway construction in the 13 states that make up the Appalachian Regional Commission and $1.8 billion would go to projects in high-density areas.

The compromise also includes $1.9 billion to address long-standing regional inequities in the formula for distributing highway funds by assuring that no state gets back less than 91 cents in aid for every $1 of taxes paid into the Federal Highway Trust Fund. Under the current formula, which was drafted in 1991 by powerful lawmakers from the Northeast, 18 "donor states" from the South, Southwest and Midwest got back as little as 71 cents for every $1 they paid into the highway system. Virginia, for example, got back roughly 78 percent of what it contributed to the highway fund.

"We've been lifted from Third World status to where we are now going to share with other states across the country," said Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.), a chief architect of the formula change.

The Senate also approved an amendment requiring the federal government to pick up the full cost to states of installing monitors to measure smog and soot as part of new federal air standards. The amendment offered by Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.) and endorsed by the administration also would require three years of data collection before determining whether states are meeting the new standards.