As count uponed President Clinton ...

As count uponed President Clinton signed into law several appropriations measures - including those for construction spending - in time to proper the Sept. 30 deadline for finalizing 1997 federal collections

to be ascribed to upcoming November elections, pundits had not anticipated a repeat of the partisan skirmishes that delayed 1996 appropriations. Somewhat more surprising is that the pluses nearly outnumber the minuses for federal construction spending.

Although GOP set specialists complained last spring that Clinton's 1997 fiscal estimate request didn't adequately "shrink