Reagan bends Congress to his will in Budget fight

Press, 25 November 1981, Page 8

Reagan bends Congress to his will in Budget fight

President Ronald. Reagan again displayed ■ his mastery of Congress yesterday,, vetoing a $428 billion spending bill he -said was too high, then winning quick approval of the temporary alternative that he supported. Congress passed the alternative to keep the Fed-* eral bureaucracy running through to December 15 and ending a 12-hour Budget crisis in which Mr Reagan had already begun to shut do’"n non-essential government activities. The Budget battle will resume on Monday after the Thanksgiving holiday. , J, Meanwhile the 400,000 Government' workers who were given leave without pay by Mr Reagan on Monday were ordered back to work today. In exercising his first veto Mr Reagan demonstrated, as he has on other economic and foreign policy issues, an

apparent ability to bend Congress. to his will. He said he used his veto because the $428 billion 1982 Budget resolution passed on Monday in an emergency Congressional session was too: high. He said it included too’ much spending for certain social programmes and too little for foreign aid. The House of Representatives and the Senate then passed a bill continuing Government spending at the 1981 level of $4OO billion a year until December 15. Mr Reagan signed the temporary bill yesterday and flew off with his wife, Nancy, to' their ranch in California for a week-long holiday. “The President is pleased,” said the White House Deputy Press Secretary (Mr Larry Speakes) yesterday. Congress must begin work on compromise spending cuts on Monday and is under pressure to come up with

figures agreeable to the White House by December 15. The 1982 financial year began on October 1. The House, dominated by opposition Democrats, was forced to pass the temporary spending measure because Democratic leaders admitted that they could not come up with a two-thirds majority of votes needed to override Mr Reagan’s veto. But Mr Reagan’s victory did not come without cost. In the week-end negotiations with Congress over what the President would be willing to accept, the White House sent confusing signals to Senate Republicans, some of whom voted for the spending bill Mr Reagan vetoed. Several of those Republicans complained yesterday before voting to support Mr Reagan’s temporary spending bill. For instance, Representative Mark Andrews, of North

Dakota, said Mr Reagan had vetoed a good bill. Congressman Slade Gorton, of Washington, said the President’s action was unfair. The Senate Democratic leader, Robert Byrd, of West Virginia, alleged that the Budget crisis had been manufactured by Mr Reagan to score debating points. He said that growing Budget deficits for which Mr Reagan is blaming Congress were caused by the President’s tax-cut measures that have deprived the Government of revenues. But Mr Byrd and other Senate Democrats, as well as the Democratic leadership of the House, could muster little more than bitter words. The temporary spending bill passed through the Senate, 88-1, and the House. 221176, where 46 House Democrats supported Mr Reagan.