Senate Frees MX Funds, 55 to 45 : President’s Lobbying Credited; Missile Faces Another Vote Today

The Senate voted Tuesday to release $1.5 billion for production of 21 additional MX missiles--a vote that President Reagan said would prove America’s military resolve to the Soviet Union.

The 55-45 vote was a personal triumph for Reagan and an indication of growing bipartisan support in Congress for continued funding of the controversial missile, at least as a bargaining chip in U.S.-Soviet arms control talks. Ten Democrats--including Senate Democratic leader Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.)--voted with the President and eight Republicans voted against him.

But the vote, though it indicated that eventual success for the Administration is likely, does not mean final approval. Funding for MX missile production during the current fiscal year, which has been held up by Congress since late last fall, must survive one more vote in the Senate today, and two votes in the House next week before it becomes available to the President.

‘Send a Message’

Each house must vote twice, once to authorize the money and once to appropriate it.

Reagan, who mounted an intensive lobbying drive that included a last-minute visit to the Capitol, said the Senate vote would “send a message of American resolve to the world.” He argued that production of the 21 additional missiles, on top of 21 already approved, would both enhance the national security and strengthen the hand of U.S. arms control negotiators now meeting with Soviet representatives in Geneva.

MX opponents were quick to note, however, that many senators voted for the missile, which Reagan has dubbed the Peacekeeper, only as a bargaining chip and expressed strong doubts about its effectiveness as a weapon. “An awful lot of people were out there today holding their nose,” said Sen. Gary Hart (D-Colo.), who led the opposition.

Support May Not Last

Even if Reagan succeeds in winning the release of MX funding for the current year, his support may not be as strong when the issue of funding his request for production of 48 more missiles in fiscal 1986 comes up in Congress in June or July. Although Reagan ultimately hopes to produce more than 200 of the missiles and to deploy 100, many senators who voted with the President on Tuesday expressed a desire to phase out the MX program next year.

Even in the final minutes before the Senate vote, the outcome was officially in doubt. Although Republicans were optimistic that the momentum was in their direction, there were a handful of senators, including Republicans Charles McC. Mathias Jr. of Maryland, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, who remained uncommitted nearly until the end.

These and other undecided senators were the target of the most intensive arm-twisting campaign carried out by the Reagan Administration since October, 1981, when the White House went to great lengths to win--by a 52-48 vote--congressional approval for the sale of five airborne warning and control system aircraft (AWACS) to Saudi Arabia.

Virtually all of the undecided senators received personal telephone calls from the President as well as visits from members of the Cabinet.

Reelection Threat

Although Sen. Alan K. Simpson (R-Wyo.), assistant Senate majority leader, insisted that MX supporters had made no political trade-offs to buy votes for the MX, Republican sources acknowledged that undecided GOP senators were told that the President would not campaign for their reelection if they voted against it. Mathias, who was invited to ride with the President in his limousine on the way to the Capitol on Tuesday, ultimately voted for the funding. Specter voted for it too, but Grassley voted against it.

Many Democrats who voted for the funding said that, although they remained opposed to the MX, they were persuaded by the President’s argument that a “no” vote would undercut the U.S. arms control negotiators in Geneva. In addition, some Democrats privately indicated that they did not want to be branded as anti-defense by the White House.

Byrd, who described his affirmative vote as an “agonizing decision,” said he hoped that the Soviets as well as American voters interpret the vote as “a manifestation of the political will of the Congress.” But he quickly added that he doubted it would have much impact on the Geneva talks.

Speaking for the opposition, Hart hotly rejected Reagan’s argument that a negative vote would hurt the national defense. “Regardless of what the President of the United States says, a vote on MX is not a test of patriotism,” he said.

Sen. Dale Bumpers (D-Ark.) also rejected the idea that the MX could be bargained away at the arms negotiating table for a Soviet concession. He noted that the last proposal the Soviets made in arms control talks would have allowed the United States to deploy 680 MX-size missiles.

“You tell me how building 100 MX missiles is going to frighten the Russians when (they had earlier) authorized 680,” he demanded.

MX opponents and supporters alike suggested that the MX would be vulnerable to Soviet attack because the Administration has chosen to put it in existing fixed-missile silos instead of deploying it as a mobile missile, as planned by the Jimmy Carter Administration. Many noted that former Sen. John Tower (R-Tex.), now one of the Administration’s arms negotiators, once described the MX deployed in fixed silos as “a sitting duck.”

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) called it a “glass-jaw missile,” adding: “It’s big, it’s strong, but it can’t take a punch.”

After the vote, Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) said the funding probably would have been rejected if it had not been for the President’s personal lobbying and his decision to call for a vote during the first week of renewed U.S.-Soviet arms talks. Dole said the Geneva talks had won Reagan “a vote or two.”