Reagan Rips House Arms Policy Curbs : Vows to Veto Defense Budget if Restrictive Amendments Pass

President Reagan, harshly denouncing curbs on his arms policies, vowed today to veto a restrictive defense spending bill pending in the House, and charged that the Soviet-backed ban on nuclear testing “is a back door to a nuclear freeze.”

Speaking to a gathering of supporters of his military buildup, Reagan also delivered a much tougher indictment of Soviet policies and actions than his conciliatory address before the U.N. General Assembly on Monday.

“The Soviets are still relentless adversaries as their totally unwarranted arrest of an innocent American reporter demonstrates, an action which jeopardizes all areas of our relationship,” Reagan said.

He referred to Nicholas Daniloff, 51, Moscow correspondent for U.S. News & World Report, who faces Soviet espionage charges and cannot leave the Soviet Union.

Disturbing Amendments

Reagan indicated he was particularly perturbed over amendments in the House defense bill that would ban nuclear testing, ban anti-satellite weapons testing, cut funds for his “Star Wars” space defense program and force him to comply with the SALT II treaty that he has decided to scrap.

“If the defense budget arrives on my desk looking anything like that, I’ll veto it,” the President pledged.

Reagan accused the Soviets of a “major propaganda campaign on testing” and repeated his proposals on his program for a Strategic Defense Initiative.

“The only question for the Soviets is, “Do we move toward strategic defense together or alone?’ ” he declared.

‘Highest Priority’

Reagan said his “highest priority is to get the Soviets to agree to deep cuts in our arsenals.”

“The House’s ban on testing, however, is a back door to nuclear freeze which would make arms reductions almost impossible,” he declared.

“Some congressmen seem to believe that peace and American weakness mean the same thing.

“Didn’t it ever occur to anyone that the Soviets must be thinking ‘if we wait long enough they’ll do our work for us,’ meaning we will do our work for them?”

Bill Deliberately Stalled

He noted that both houses had approved “critically needed” funds for the contra rebels seeking the overthrow of the Marxist Sandinista government in Nicaragua, but “this bill has been deliberately stalled on Capitol Hill.

“The freedom fighters will pay with their lives with this politics of obstructionism,” Reagan charged.

Reagan went into an elaborate explanation of why the United States must keep testing, including the need to modernize weapons and not be caught by a surprise Soviet breakthrough.

He said the House had taken actions that would “pull the rug out (from under) our negotiators in Geneva and imperil our national security.”