Bill with arena funds on hold

The delay won't jeopardize the development proposal, legislative aides said.
& lt;a href=mailto:skolnick@vindy.com & gt;By DAVID SKOLNICK & lt;/a & gt;
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Approval of the congressional appropriations package that would allow the city to shift the $25 million earmarked for a convocation center to general downtown development will be delayed until at least Jan. 20, in all likelihood.
"It is very remote it will be passed" next week, said Mary Ann Walsh, chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th. "It doesn't look like it's going to happen on the House side."
"We heard it won't move next week," added Marcie Ridgway, spokeswoman for U.S. Sen. George V. Voinovich.
But Walsh and Ridgway say the delay will not jeopardize the proposed funding shift for Youngstown, just postpone it.
The U.S. House was expected to pass the measure Monday with the Senate expected to approve the seven-bill, $820 billion omnibus spending package a day later. Consideration of the proposal is still scheduled for those days, but passage isn't likely, Ohio congressional spokeswomen said.
Plans for the money
If the package is passed, it would free up the $25 million federal grant given to Youngstown in 2000 to build a convocation center, and permit the city to use the money for downtown redevelopment.
City officials want to use the money to demolish condemned buildings on West Federal Street, expand the Youngstown Business Incubator, and possibly build a new municipal court facility; find space for the Ohio 7th District Court of Appeals, which is currently located in the Mahoning County Common Pleas Courthouse; and construct an office building where the former Masters Tuxedo building is located.
Vindicator management quietly lobbied Voinovich and U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine, both Ohio Republicans, last month for federal funding to expand the incubator, and also discussed reprogramming the money for the proposed arena project for development.
The senators agreed to include an amendment to the omnibus package to shift the arena money, a move hailed by city officials.
Awaits final wording
The specific language on the $25 million is not finalized, and is not currently included in a joint House-Senate conference report that resolved conflicts between the two bodies on appropriations spending, Ridgway said. The language should be finalized sometime next month before passage by both legislative bodies, she said.
The House is in session Monday, and the Senate is in session Monday and Tuesday. Neither house is expected to reconvene until Jan. 20, although there is an outside possibility that emergency sessions could be called.
Ridgway and Stephanie Whelpley, DeWine's spokeswoman, were optimistic the House would pass the omnibus package Monday. But Walsh said it isn't likely to happen then. Besides politics' being a factor in delaying passage, Walsh said the White House Christmas party is later that day and House members probably don't want to get bogged down with debate on the package and miss the black-tie event.
Ridgway doesn't expect the Senate to approve the package next week, and said there are no votes scheduled for Monday or Tuesday, just sessions. Whelpley didn't sound too optimistic either.
Various press reports, including in The Washington Post and Congressional Quarterly, state that U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd, the Senate's top Democratic appropriator, has made it clear that he will block any effort to approve the package without a roll-call vote. Senate rules require unanimous consent to bring the package up for a vote.
& lt;a href=mailto:skolnick@vindy.com & gt;skolnick@vindy.com & lt;/a & gt;