Reagan Offers MX ‘Pause’ at 50 in Compromise Plan

President Reagan sought to save his MX missile program from an embarrassing setback in the Senate on Tuesday by offering a “pause” in deployment at 50 missiles--or half of what he originally had proposed, according to Senate sources.

The offer was made only a few hours before the Senate had been scheduled to vote on a proposal by Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) that would prohibit the President from deploying more than 40 missiles. It also would allow only 12 missiles to be manufactured in fiscal 1986.

A vote on the Nunn amendment--which was expected to be adopted--was delayed, probably until today, while Nunn and White House officials discussed the details of Reagan’s offer.

Earlier in the day, the Senate rejected by a 56-42 vote a proposal by Sen. Gary Hart (D-Colo.) that would have halted production as well as deployment of the controversial missile system.

Congress previously has approved funding for the production of 42 MX missiles. Although there is no current congressionally mandated ceiling on deployment, none of the missiles is yet ready to be deployed. The President’s original plan called for producing 223 missiles and deploying 100.

Under Reagan’s proposed compromise, sources said, the Administration sought permission to manufacture 21 missiles in fiscal 1986 and promised a “pause” in deployment after 50. Sources said White House officials insisted on using the word “pause” instead of “halt,” which has been used to describe the terms of the Nunn amendment.

The compromise proposed by the Administration also seeks to avoid a vote on a proposal drafted by Sens. Dale Bumpers (D-Ark.) and Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) that would require the President to uphold the limits on offensive arms in the second Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty, sources said. The Administration is considering breaking the terms of that treaty, which has never been ratified by the Senate, although the United States and the Soviet Union have said they will abide by its terms.

Nunn refused to discuss the exact provisions of Reagan’s proposal, which Sen. Albert Gore Jr. (D-Tenn.) said was “much more complicated” than a simple pause in deployment at 50 missiles. But Nunn indicated that he does not view the White House offer favorably.

“I’m listening to it,” he said after his first of two meetings Tuesday with Reagan’s national security adviser, Robert C. McFarlane, and arms negotiator John Tower. “My reaction has not been positive so far.”

Funds for 21 Missiles

Although Congress recently approved funding for production of 21 MX missiles in the current fiscal year, Nunn and other moderate Democrats warned at the time of that vote that they intended to seek to phase out the missile program when the issue of fiscal 1986 funding came up.

But White House officials apparently made no effort to discuss a compromise with Nunn until Tuesday, as he began to introduce his proposal. He wants to attach it as an amendment to a bill authorizing $302 billion for the Pentagon in fiscal 1986. The bill, as recommended by the Senate Armed Services Committee, would authorize $2.1 billion for the production of 21 MX missiles.

Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) came to the Senate floor as Nunn began offering his amendment Tuesday and publicly implored the Georgia Democrat to speak to White House officials before doing so. Senators on both sides of the aisle were surprised by Dole’s 11th-hour request.

‘Should Have Known’

“The White House should have known a long time ago about the Nunn amendment,” Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Barry Goldwater (R-Ariz.) said.

Dole replied that the President has been unable to focus on this issue previously because of his recent European trip.

White House officials and Republican leaders were understood to be making the argument in private meetings with Nunn that a halt in MX deployment at 40 would undermine arms control negotiations with the Soviet Union.

Earlier, Hart said during debate on his amendment that support for MX missiles had been eroded by the Administration’s decision to deploy them in Minuteman silos, considered vulnerable to attack, instead of adopting a mobile system of deployment, as originally planned.

Sen. John Glenn (D-Ohio) noted that the cost of the MX and the process of hardening the existing silos has risen to about $319 million each, meaning that the Administration can deploy only three of them for about $1 billion.

“We could use this money to get a better deterrent,” he said.