CLINTON SIGNS FINAL BUDGET BILL : GOP COMPROMISE AVERTS SHUTDOWN.

Byline: Alan Fram Associated Press 

With just hours to spare Monday, the Senate passed and President Clinton signed a $389 billion spending bill for scores of federal agencies and a tightening of immigration laws, the Republican-led 104th Congress' last major legislation.

Clinton signed the measure little more than two hours before today's start of the 1997 fiscal year, ensuring that there would be no repeat of last year's partial government shutdown when agencies' spending authority lapsed.

The catch-all bill, approved 84-15 by the Senate early Monday evening, contains $6.5 billion in extra money that Clinton demanded for education, drug-fighting and other programs and pushes overall spending nearly as high as it was before Republicans captured Congress two years ago.

It also drops GOP-written immigration provisions the White House argued were too severe, such as one barring federally paid AIDS care for illegal immigrants.

In a signing statement, Clinton called the omnibus bill ``good for America,'' because it ensures substantial amounts of money for education and training, environmental protection and law enforcement.

``It moves us further toward our goal of a balanced budget while protecting our values and priorities - educating our children, providing a clean environment, fighting crime, protecting our families from drugs, and combating terrorism,'' he said.

However, the president said he was disappointed that the bill did not include one of his priorities, a ban on physician ``gag rules'' that would have given doctors in managed-care programs the freedom to inform their patients of a wider range of medical treatment options.

``Several states have passed similar legislation,'' Clinton said, ``and Congress should have reached agreement on this measure.''

Forty-six Democrats and 38 Republicans voted for the legislation in the Senate, while one Democrat and 14 Republicans opposed it.

The House approved the measure Saturday night, 370-37, and with a pre-election adjournment approaching, most of its members immediately left Washington.

While bent on speeding home for their re-election races, senators saw their hopes for quick adjournment dashed by a dispute over a separate bill authorizing air traffic systems. Democrats complained that it contained language to help Federal Express prevent its truck drivers from unionizing. They used parliamentary tactics to delay a vote on the bill until at least Thursday, giving them time to debate the Federal Express language.

Also percolating was a parks bill making dozens of land exchanges, boundary changes and new designations of memorials and historic sites. Most were not controversial, but behind-the-scenes battles over adding additional provisions persisted. The House approved it Saturday, 404-4.

But having won GOP concessions on spending and immigration - and a government shutdown looming if the bill was not approved by midnight Monday - Democrats decided ``that we ought to quit while we're ahead,'' said Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D.

White House chief of staff Leon Panetta concurred.

``Democrats recognize we won a great deal in here in terms of the president's priorities and their priorities, and it's important to get this done . . . and get back to their constituents,'' Panetta told reporters after lunching with Senate Democrats.

Republicans said the two-year Congress had stayed the budget-cutting course the GOP had promised, even though the White House won extra spending in round-the-clock talks that ended at dawn Saturday.

``Along the way, did we have to make some compromises to get our work product done? Yes. But we got it done,'' said Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss.

The spending and immigration measures were combined into a single bill that with its explanatory report totaled 3,000 pages. Congress already had completed seven of the 13 annual spending bills, leaving six that were wrapped into this measure.