Foes Gear for Next Fight--a Bid for 48 More MXs

Although Tuesday’s close vote in the House of Representatives makes it almost certain that the MX missile program will receive its funds this year, opponents insisted afterward that they stand a good chance of winning the next round: President Reagan’s fiscal 1986 request for $4 billion to build 48 additional missiles.

Reagan depletes “a certain amount of MX capital in each vote,” said House Majority Whip Thomas S. Foley (D-Wash.) of a missile program that has survived despite more than a decade of intensive efforts to kill it.

Must Vote Funds

With the crucial question of whether to authorize funding for 21 of the missiles behind it, the House still must vote--possibly as early as today--to actually appropriate the $1.5 billion for the missiles. But few on either side believe that the second vote will have a different outcome.

So opponents and supporters now have turned most of their attention to the coming debate over next year’s MX funding.

“We’re going to celebrate tonight and be back in the trenches tomorrow,” said Rep. Trent Lott of Mississippi, the House’s second-ranking Republican.

Even supporters of the program say that Reagan is not likely to obtain House approval for all 48 missiles. “We may want to consider some other option before we get to that move,” Lott said.

Growing Price Tag

Opponents say that their clearest advantage is the missile program’s price tag, which is growing as many popular domestic programs are being pared back. “Sooner or later,” said Rep. Bill Alexander (D-Ark.), a member of the House Democratic leadership, “the budget argument will catch up with the President.”

However, opponents have learned not to underestimate Reagan’s ability to come up with the right argument at the right time. The most potent persuasion this year was the warning that a vote against the MX would jeopardize the U.S.-Soviet arms talks that began recently in Geneva.

But, as House Majority Leader Jim Wright (D-Tex.) noted during the debate: “A year ago, we were told we had to vote for the MX because the Russians were not at the bargaining table. Today, we are told we have to vote for the MX because the Russians are at the bargaining table.”

Could Undermine Position

Although the arms talks are expected to continue well into the next round of controversy over the missile, Lott said that the Administration may undermine its own bargaining position in negotiations with the Soviets if it continues to tie the future of a single weapons system to the broader goal of nuclear arms control.

“I would rather avoid setting up symbolic votes that could have negative impact,” he said.