Reagan Urges Congress to Unite in ‘Bipartisan Spirit’

President Reagan, girding for a year of politics-tinged budget battles, called on Congress Saturday to “work in a bipartisan spirit to make 1986 the year of opportunities for America . . . to create a future of unlimited opportunity.”

If Republicans and Democrats work together, Reagan said in his weekly radio talk, delivered from the Oval Office of the White House, 1986 can be “a year to unite for full employment from Harlem to Hawaii, so that every American who seeks work can find work.”

Without noting that 1986 is a congressional election year, Reagan recalled that in 1981, his first year in office, he proposed, and Congress enacted, an economic recovery program to deal with “the terrible economy, the inflation and interest rates, the sense that both at home and abroad, everything had gone haywire.”

Expresses ‘High Hopes’

The President expressed “high hopes” that 1986 will prove to be a year in which “to build a floor of security beneath every family, but no ceiling of opportunity above any American’s head,” and a year of action “so that our children can truly look forward to inheriting a land free from runaway debt, prices, crime and drugs.”

At the same time, Reagan said, “we must make sure that government no longer stands as a roadblock to a stronger and smarter economy.” He also asked care to ensure that “the weight of taxes and education, health and retirement costs doesn’t crush those who will lead America into the 21st Century.”

Delivering the Democratic response to Reagan’s weekly talk, Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan said Democrats share his hopes but disagree with his approach to the budget deficit, a topic barely touched on in the President’s speech. Levin said a recent poll indicates that the public is in opposition to Reagan’s approach, which stresses opposition to any tax increase and advocates continued growth in defense sending.

With sharp curbs on deficit financing a likely result of the new Gramm-Rudman legislation, Levin said, a “common-sense formula” for the government would be to reduce spending and increase revenues. Levin reported that a recent survey of more than 1,000 Americans made at his request by Opinion Research Corp. of Princeton, N.J., showed these results:

--Asked whether deficit reduction or income tax reduction is more important to the nation’s economic well-being, 59% favored reducing the deficit and 31% supported a tax cut.

--Asked if revenues from the closing of tax loopholes should be used to “give most Americans an income tax cut of about $200,” or to reduce the deficit, those polled supported deficit reduction 61% to 31%.

Maintaining that the public wants “tax reform combined with deficit reduction,” Levin recommended a strengthened minimum tax which he said could raise $10 billion a year from corporations and individuals who currently pay no significant federal income taxes, and could be applied to deficit reduction.