Goldwater Agrees to Defense Cuts : Accepts $33 Billion in Reductions Over Next Three Years

In an apparent breakthrough in Senate budget deliberations, Sen. Barry Goldwater (R-Ariz.), chairman of the Armed Services Committee, has agreed to trim about $33 billion from President Reagan’s defense spending request over the next three years, congressional aides said Tuesday.

Goldwater--who previously had opposed any cuts in Reagan’s defense budget--now has told Senate Majority Leader Robert J. Dole (R-Kan.) that he could support cutting Reagan’s defense budget by $2.1 billion in fiscal 1986, $9.2 billion in 1987 and $21.8 billion in 1988, a spokeswoman for Dole said. Neither Dole nor Goldwater could be reached for comment.

Goldwater’s proposal still would allow for annual increases in defense spending of 4%, after inflation. Reagan’s fiscal 1986 budget, which he submitted to Congress last week, calls for an increase in Pentagon spending of 5.9% in 1986 and projected increases of 8.2% in 1987 and 8.8% in 1988.

‘Starting Point’

Although Goldwater’s plan falls far short of Dole’s original goal to trim $20 billion from the 1986 defense budget, Dale Tate, Dole’s spokeswoman, described the offer as a good “starting point” for further negotiations. She noted that it is the first time Goldwater has agreed to any cuts in defense spending.

Another Senate budget aide, who declined to be identified, noted that, although Goldwater’s proposal would contribute little to deficit reduction in 1986, it would help Dole substantially in his quest for $100 billion in budget savings over the next three years.

Since early January, Dole and other Senate Republicans have been struggling to put together a package of budget cuts that would trim Reagan’s projected deficits of nearly $200 billion in each of the next three years. Until now, Goldwater’s opposition to defense cuts has been the principal stumbling block in these negotiations.

Overall Package

Senate aides said Goldwater indicated that his support for the defense cuts would be contingent upon the successful negotiation of an overall deficit reduction package, including substantial cuts in domestic spending as well as a freeze in Social Security benefits.

Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee already have agreed tentatively to cuts of $63 billion in domestic spending over the next three years, including the one-year Social Security freeze. It is estimated that the Social Security freeze would save more than $6 billion in the first year alone and $22 billion over three years.

Senate aides noted that, unlike the budget-cutting suggestions of other committee chairmen, Goldwater’s proposal has not been presented in written form. Tate said the Armed Services Committee chairman simply made a verbal offer to begin searching the budget for cuts in the neighborhood of $33 billion over three years. The figures could change when negotiations resume next week, she said.

Some Senate Republicans have been advocating an overall freeze in defense spending, but GOP leaders have been backing away from that idea in recent days on grounds that it would undermine the U.S. commitment to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to increase real defense spending by 3% each year. Senate leaders also fear that the Democratic-controlled House will try to trim more from the defense budget when it comes up for consideration in that chamber.

Aides said Goldwater and the Senate GOP leaders will not meet again to discuss the defense budget until next week, after Congress returns from its current recess. In recent meetings, aides said, the Senate GOP leaders have put heavy pressure on Goldwater to agree to cuts in defense.