Little new in Reagan message

Press, 27 January 1988, Page 8

Little new in Reagan message

NZPA-Reuter Washington President Reagan launched his final year in office today with pledges to fight "right to the finish line” for causes ranging from Contra aid to arms control.

During a televised speech to Congress, Mr Reagan delivered an annual State-of-the-Union address designed to overcome his “lame duck” image and set his presidency on course for a grand finale. “My message to you tonight is: Put on your work shoes — we’re still on the job,” said the President, who will turn 77 on February 6 and will conclude eight years in office next January 20 at noon.

In a 43-minute speech he ticked off only the expected litany of unfinished business including new but unspecified aid to Nicaragua’s Contra rebels, Senate approval of the

new United States-Soviet nuclear arms accord and reform of the United States Budget process.

One item that drew strong bipartisan applause was his call for fast ratification of the United States-Soviet treaty to eliminate Intermediaterange Nuclear Forces, signed last month at his Washington summit with the Kremlin leader, Mikhail Gorbachev. He never alluded to last October’s stock-market crash or other major international economic tremors affecting financial stability.

And he never uttered the word “dollar” in any reference to America’s battered currency.

The Senate Democratic Majority leader, Robert Byrd, quickly responded for the opposition, in a broadcast reply: “We’ve come to the end of an era. The ‘feel good’ slogans have gone flat with time.”

Republicans and Democrats joined in a boisterous standing ovation as he entered the brilliantly lit House of Representatives chamber.

In terms of policy specifics, Reagan offered little new.

As predicted, he accused Nicaragua’s Sandinista Government of delaying progress toward a negotiated peace with the Contra rebels and said he would ask the Congress to extend modest new aid to the rebels in order to keep the pressure on Managua. He put no figure on what he would seek, but White House sources have said it would be in the range of SUSSO million, mostly for non-lethal items - a vastly scaled down request reflecting the unpopularity of the proposal in Congress, where the proposal faces tough opposition in a vote next week.