Ban on Saudi Arms Vetoed by Reagan

President Reagan vetoed congressional disapproval of a $265-million sale of missiles to Saudi Arabia today, clearing the way for an override vote that was his last chance to avert a damaging foreign policy defeat.

White House officials said the veto was sent to Capitol Hill at mid-afternoon, pointing to a pivotal showdown vote tonight before the Senate recessed for 10 days.

Reagan’s timing in sending the veto to the Senate suggested optimism by the White House that he has turned around enough votes in the Senate to keep foes from mustering the two-thirds majority needed to override his veto and kill an arms sale he has deemed vital to U.S. interests.

The Administration initially planned to send the veto message late in the day, which would have delayed the override vote until after the Memorial Day recess and enabling Reagan to buy more time to lobby.

White House spokesman Larry Speakes said earlier today that the Administration, once at least 11 votes short of the number needed to uphold a veto, had “made good progress” in the 24 hours since withdrawing Stinger anti-aircraft missiles--the most contentious part of the sale--from what had been a $354-million arms package.

Sidewinders, Harpoons

Without the Stingers, the arms package still contains 1,666 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles and 100 anti-ship Harpoon missiles. Both weapons, like the Stinger, are in the Saudi arsenal.

Despite the high stakes he attached to the sale in terms of U.S. credibility, Middle East security and support for the peace process, Reagan remained on the sidelines--leaving lobbying to subordinates--as he neared a final showdown vote that held the risk of becoming one of his worst foreign policy defeats.

Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.), perhaps the most vocal Senate critic of the proposed sale, said the military significance of the package had been reduced with removal of the Stingers but he insisted that the deal still should be killed.

“There is a deep, deep question as to the advisability of supplying any sophisticated arms to a nation that has undermined American policy in many, many ways and that has sided with terrorists and that has aided terrorists,” Cranston said.

The sale of missiles to the Saudis represented the latest in a series of moves by the Administration--thwarted in most cases by opposition from Congress--to improve relations with moderate Arab states and encourage greater participation by Saudi Arabia and Jordan in the long-stalled peace process.

Lopsided Votes

The original votes to block the sale--356 to 62 in the House and 73 to 22 in the Senate--were well in excess of the two-thirds majorities needed to override a veto and more lopsided than the White House and its allies had anticipated.

In private, Senate backers of the sale suggested that Reagan did not work hard enough to either avert first-round rejection by Congress or keep the margin of defeat slim enough, at least in the Senate, to ensure that a veto would be easily sustained.