Republican Revolt Derails House Tax-Overhaul Vote : President Defied by Own Party

With defecting Republicans spurning President Reagan’s pleas for support, the House dealt a stunning and possibly fatal blow today to efforts to overhaul the tax code by blocking a vote on a Democratic tax bill.

Shortly after taking up the tax question, the House voted 223 to 202 against the procedures drawn up to govern consideration of the bill, meaning it could not be brought to a vote.

Even though Reagan had lobbied hard for the bill, drafted by the Democrat-dominated House Ways and Means Committee, only 14 Republicans voted for the rules, which would allow a vote on only one amendment--a sweeping GOP alternative given virtually no chance of passage.

The bill, which would generally lower tax rates for individuals and shift more of the burden to businesses, could be brought up again in the next day or two if Democatic leaders are convinced that Reagan has produced more Republican votes.

After the vote, House Speaker Thomas P. (Tip) O’Neill (D-Mass.) said tax reform “will be dead” if Reagan does not twist enough Republican arms.

“If the President really cares about tax reform, he will deliver the votes,” O’Neill said, adding that if the President cannot, “Dec. 11 will be remembered as the date that Ronald Reagan became a ‘lame duck’ on the floor of the House.”

“Today, with glee in their faces, Republican congressmen voted to humiliate the man who had led them to victory,” O’Neill said, declaring that the tax bill was a bipartisan product that gave Reagan what he wanted.

He added that some GOP members had exulted after the vote about how they had “stuck it to the White House.”

House Republicans opposed to the tax bill believe it is not fair and could prompt an economic recession. They were not swayed by Administration arguments that the bill could be written more to their liking if forwarded to the GOP-led Senate.

A total of 59 Democrats and 164 Republicans joined forces to defeat the procedures, while 188 Democrats and 14 Republicans voted in favor. One Democrat voted “present,” while four Democrats and four Republicans did not vote.

Buttressing O’Neill’s warnings, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dan Rostenkowski called on the White House to appeal for a new presidential lobbying effort.

“The President wants tax reform,” Rostenkowski (D-Ill.) said. “He’s going to have to work at it.”

Reagan later met in small groups with some Republicans who voted against the procedures, several of whom said they were frustrated with the lack of GOP input allowed in the bill and indicated the procedures could pass on a second attempt.

Rep. Bill Carney (R-N.Y.) said as he left the Oval Office, Reagan called to him, “I hope you won’t let me down.”

But O’Neill said the White House needed a guarantee that the bill will pass if another attempt is to be made. “I’d say to the President, he has to call Dan Rostenkowski and say ‘I have not only sufficient votes to pass the rule, but I have sufficient votes to pass the bill,’ ” O’Neill said.

At the White House, spokesman Larry Speakes said the tax question is “now down to the crunch” and urged quick action, but sought to absolve Reagan of blame for the defeat.

If the tax legislation fails, “it is the members of the House of Representatives that will have to answer to the American people, not the President of the United States,” Speakes said.