Blasts Waste, Big Government in Talk to Realtors : Reagan Opens Lobbying Push on Budget

President Reagan launched an all-out lobbying campaign for his revised budget proposal Tuesday, declaring that “Congress should stop making excuses and start showing some backbone and leadership.

“It’s been said that any government that robs Peter to pay Paul is bound to have the support of Paul,” Reagan told 4,000 frequently applauding, occasionally cheering delegates to the annual convention of the National Assn. of Realtors. “Well, it’s time we noticed we can’t rob Peter anymore. He went bankrupt a long time ago.”

Clearly enjoying himself, Reagan switched Tuesday from a losing fight over Nicaraguan rebel aid and trying to explain why he intends to visit a German military cemetery to doing what he does best: campaigning against big government, high taxes and “wasteful” programs.

The President and his advisers regarded the realtors’ speech as a warm-up for a nationally televised address tonight in which he will attempt to put public pressure on Congress to pass a compromise budget proposal worked out by the White House and Senate Republicans. The address begins at 5 p.m. PST on major television and radio networks.

White House spokesman Larry Speakes said Reagan will argue during the TV address that the budget proposal is critically needed to reduce the federal deficit and continue the nation’s economic expansion.

Deficit Reduction Plan

The controversial plan, which would eliminate more than a dozen federal programs, is designed to reduce the annual deficit by $52 billion during the next fiscal year and pare it to below $100 billion by the end of Reagan’s second term. The Senate opens debate on the plan today and key floor votes are expected as early as Thursday.

But speaking to the realtors in a Washington hotel, Reagan indicated that he would not compromise any further on defense spending. His agreement to hold Pentagon spending to an increase of 3% over inflation, he said, “is the rock-bottom level needed. . . . We can no longer afford to use defense spending as a whipping boy for the failure of Congress to make necessary reductions in our domestic spending.”

Reagan cited the federal subsidy for Amtrak as an example of a wasteful program that should be abolished. “When Amtrak trains leave the station, they are being fueled by $35 in subsidies for every passenger. They just keep shoveling in those tax dollars, but it’s you the people who are getting railroaded,” he said.

The President did not mention his budget proposal that is perhaps the most controversial: a plan to hold Social Security cost-of-living increases to two percentage points below the inflation rate, with a guarantee of at least 2%. But he pledged to “protect the poor, elderly and disabled” in his budget.

To members of Congress who advocate freezing all spending, Reagan said: “It’s the wrong medicine at the wrong time. Instead, we should use this opportunity to trim programs that are wasteful, ineffective and unnecessary. . . . A freeze is a decision not to make a decision, a retreat in the face of special interest pressure.”

And he again emphatically stated: “Let me pledge to you--I will not be a party to a tax increase.”