CRUNCH TIME FOR THE CAPITOL CONGRESS FACES BUDGET WRANGLES.

Byline: Bill Hillburg Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - Well rested by a summer convention-and-campaigning break that began July 28, members of Congress will reconvene Sept. 6 for what promises to be a politically charged final round of lawmaking.

Republicans and Democrats will have to reconcile $30 billion worth of budget differences, including spending with a major impact on Southern California. They'll also try to hammer out a patients' bill of rights and a prescription drug benefit for senior citizens, and tackle immigration reforms.

And all of that work must be completed so that House and Senate members can get out of town by sundown on Oct. 6, their target adjournment date. The getaway would allow ample time for campaigning before voters go to the polls Nov. 7.

Rep. Howard P. ``Buck'' McKeon, R-Santa Clarita, said he is hopeful that Congress can complete its tasks on time with a minimum of partisan wrangling.

``I worry that the administration will refuse to compromise just to keep us in town,'' McKeon said. ``President Clinton doesn't have anything to lose and is only looking to his legacy.''

Added Rep. Howard L. Berman, D-Mission Hills, ``We can accomplish a lot of things. It all depends on whether Congress wants to debate the issues for the November election or work to solve problems.''

Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Woodland Hills, took a gloomier view, saying there is a 50-50 chance that Congress will punt on key issues, including a new federal budget, and return to Washington after the elections to finish business in a lame-duck session.

The elections will loom over every congressional deliberation. Both parties want to avoid a move that could prove costly to their respective presidential candidates, Republican George W. Bush or Democrat Al Gore. Members are also acutely aware of the looming showdown battle for control of Congress.

``I'm afraid that the Democrats will do their best to embarrass the Republican majority in Congress,'' said Rep. David Dreier, R-Covina.

Democrats are making a concerted effort to restore the House majority they lost in 1994. Southern California is a key battleground, where Rep. James Rogan, R-Pasadena, is in a tight race with state Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena. Another key local race has pitted Rep. Steven Kuykendall, R-Torrance, against Democratic former South Bay Congresswoman Jane Harman.

Republicans currently hold a 223-210 edge in the House.

A Democratic takeover in the U.S. Senate, where the GOP holds a 54-46 edge, is considered a long shot.

Approving a budget is job one for Congress, which must produce 13 appropriations bills and get them signed by Clinton by Oct. 1, the start of the new fiscal year.

Without a budget, the federal government must shut down nonessential services and stop paying its employees, as it did during a 1995 congressional impasse.

Clinton is seeking approval for a $630 billion spending plan, including money for such projects as earmarked dollars for school construction, class-size reduction and hiring 100,000 additional public school teachers nationwide.

The Republican majority has produced a $600 billion spending plan that also differs in philosophy. For example, McKeon and other GOP members also back more money for schools but they want it in the form of grants to school districts, letting local officials decide how to use the funds.

Without a budget deal, Congress is barred from adjourning. That's a daunting prospect for politicians itching to hit the campaign trail.

Sherman sees the distinct possibility that, in the face of a budget impasse or a Clinton veto, Congress may opt to pass a continuing budget resolution that would keep the government running for four to six weeks. Lawmakers would then have to finish their work in a post-election lame-duck session.

``It's not impossible to get a budget,'' Sherman said. ``There is enough time, but there is not enough common ground. It's hard for me to see where the compromises are.

``Perhaps we'll have to let the people make their decision on election day and let that guide our actions when we return.''

< Gold for the state

Amid all the expected partisan wrangling, a number of budget measures with an impact on California will have bipartisan support from the state's 52 house members and Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer.

High on Berman's agenda is adequate funding for the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, which reimburses local government for the cost of incarcerating criminals who are undocumented immigrants. California's prisons house 50 percent of the nation's alien convicts.

The House has approved $585 million for the program, with half that amount earmarked for California's city, county and state prisons and jails. The Senate has allocated only $50 million.

Berman, along with Sherman and McKeon, is also seeking $1.3 million to repair and reopen the earthquake-damaged Department of Veterans Affairs gymnasium at the VA's Sepulveda medical center in North Hills.

Dreier is pressing for final approval of an $85 million program to clean up groundwater pollution in the San Gabriel Valley Basin and at a site in the Santa Clarita Valley.

Dreier and colleagues Gary Miller, R-Yorba Linda, and Joe Baca, D-San Bernardino, are also seeking $135 million to begin work on the Alameda Corridor East. The project would replace 55 railroad grade crossings in the San Gabriel Valley and Inland Empire. It is designed to ease traffic and transport snarls due to increased trade in the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles.

Potential flash points

On the immigration front, the high-tech industry and its allies are still pressing to increase the number of special H1-B visas granted to foreign computer specialists. Latino activists, led by Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard, D-Los Angeles, and backed by Clinton, want the H1-B bill to include an amnesty for an estimated 900,000 aliens who were denied access to legal residency under previous reform efforts.

The issue has become a potential time bomb for Republicans, who oppose pairing the two efforts but are leery of being perceived as being anti-Latino.

A prescription drug benefit for seniors and a patients' bill of rights are also flash points for the upcoming session. Clinton and the Democrats want to fully fund prescriptions for seniors and give sweeping rights to patients. Republicans have passed a more modest drug benefit and advocate other reforms for the health care system.

GOP members will also attempt to override Clinton's vetoes of their repeals of the income tax ``marriage penalty,'' which costs some couples an average of $1,500 per year, and the federal ``death tax'' on inheritances, which can claim up to 60 percent of a wealthy estate.

Republicans argue that the taxes are unfair to families and businesses. Clinton and his Democratic allies claim the measures will primarily benefit the rich.

A two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate is required for an override. McKeon said the GOP majority, joined by a number of Democrats, should have the votes it needs in the House. But he said an override of the Clinton vetoes is in doubt in the Senate.