Dole Retreats From Budget Vote 2nd Time

Senate Republican leaders, short on support, flinched for the second straight day today rather than permit a test vote on a $52-billion package of spending cuts for 1986 that would curtail many politically popular domestic programs, including Social Security.

Indicating that as many as half a dozen Republicans oppose the plan in its current form, Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole postponed a crucial test vote on the proposal until Tuesday at the earliest.

The Kansas Republican said failure to deliver an early show of support for the spending outline was a setback, but “is not fatal.” The plan embraced by Reagan includes limits on Social Security benefit increases and eliminates many popular federal programs and subsidies, including those for Amtrak.

Democratic leaders today expressed united opposition to the measure, and Dole could not find enough Republican support for the package in the GOP-run chamber to provide him with a winning margin.

Thursday night, Dole abruptly recessed the Senate rather than risk the showdown vote on the Reagan package that he had spent most of the day arranging.

He worked overnight and in meetings through the morning with wavering senators to win converts for the plan, but again came up short.

At issue is a procedural step that would bring the President’s entire plan formally before the Senate as a package. Dole had urged support for the move as a matter of party loyalty.

He told reporters he was “still optimistic” as he pressed his search for additional votes for the spending outline, but he said Reagan might have to accept a loss--at least in the first round of voting.

“I’d rather win than lose. It sounds better. But (a loss) is not fatal,” Dole said. “Even 47 or 48 votes (for Reagan’s plan) would send a very strong signal,” he said.

The early departure of a number of members for North Carolina for the funeral of former Democratic Sen. Sam Ervin also thinned the ranks today on both sides of the aisle, a factor GOP leaders said weighed in the decision to cancel the vote.