Says Reagan Will Also in Order to Reduce Deficit : Wilson ‘Likely’ to Back Social Security Freeze

Sen. Pete Wilson (R-Calif.), citing an urgent need to reduce the federal deficit, said Thursday that he will “very likely” support a freeze on Social Security cost-of-living increases and predicted that President Reagan will also.

“I am for doing what is required to bring the deficit down” by at least the $50 billion targeted by Federal Reserve Chairman Paul A. Volcker and Senate Republicans, Wilson said in a breakfast interview with reporters and editors of The Times’ Washington Bureau.

And this probably “would mean a freeze” in government cost-of-living increases--including the one for Social Security beneficiaries--as well as “very serious” spending cuts in other domestic programs, Wilson noted.

As for the President, Wilson said, “I think he’s going to have to” go along with a freeze on Social Security benefits despite his reelection campaign pledge to oppose such a move.

“He may not be happy with (cost-of-living) freezes with respect to Social Security,” Wilson said of Reagan. But “he would be much less happy, as someone who understands the consequence of our inaction, with our failing to do something significant about the deficit because it would then penalize everybody.”

When asked if he could face the expected negative reaction from voters to a freeze on cost-of-living increases, Wilson--who will not be seeking reelection until 1988--responded: “Yeah, I can. I have no choice. I have to do what I believe is necessary, and I think that’s necessary.”

Soaring Interest Rates

Failure to “do something significant” about the deficit by spring would send interest rates soaring, he warned, adding, “That is just unacceptable.”

In addition, Wilson defended Administration proposals to cut federal farm price support programs, even though he acknowledged that many farmers in California and elsewhere are in serious financial trouble. But he blamed many of the problems afflicting agriculture on the size of the deficit, which he said makes it harder for U.S. growers to compete in world markets.

“It’s a very sad situation,” he said. “I sympathize, because there are an awful lot of people who are not going to be in the business any longer. But you’re not going to keep them in the business by supports.”

The senator said that he expected some cuts in defense spending as a part of a broad deficit reduction effort, but he urged that Pentagon appropriations be dealt with carefully.

Meanwhile, Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.) told reporters that an eight-city round of community forums that he had held in the state this month unearthed strong support for freezing defense spending but opposition to proposals to freeze cost-of-living increases for Social Security recipients.

Cranston said also that a “significant majority, except in San Diego and Santa Ana,” favored a tax increase if efforts to cut spending do not reduce the deficit sufficiently. However, he added, “They do agree that first should come action to cut the deficit.”