Reagan, House Democrats at Arms Control Impasse

President Reagan and House Democrats reached an impasse on arms control issues Wednesday that threatened to shut down the federal government shortly before the President leaves Washington for his summit with Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev in Iceland.

Reagan, in a letter to House Majority Leader Jim Wright (D-Tex.), rejected as unacceptable a compromise proposed by the Democrats to delay until early next year the resolution of their differences on arms control. Instead, he called on Democrats to abandon House-passed legislation that would put new restraints on U.S. arms policy.

“I cannot be forced by the Congress to accept language that restricts our bargaining position at the negotiating table,” he said. “We must not send a message to the Soviets that could be construed as an incentive to delay undertaking serious discussions now because of a belief that they could get a better deal from Congress later.”

In response, Wright said that while House Democrats are willing to compromise with the President to avoid an embarrassing confrontation before the summit, which opens Saturday, they are unwilling to completely surrender to his position.

“We’ve gone the second mile. . . . We’ve turned the other cheek, we’ve handed the olive branch, we’ve done everything but give away the store, and he wants us to give away the store,” said Wright. “The American people understand that this is not a dictatorship.”

Settle for ‘a Nod’

He said the Democrats would settle for as little as “a nod” from the President that he does not intend to violate the unratified second strategic arms limitation treaty later this year--as he has threatened to do--but that Reagan refused to make any such concession.

The dispute threatened to block passage of an omnibus spending bill to fund the government beyond midnight Friday. The House-passed arms control measures, which are provisions of legislation funding the government for the remainder of the fiscal year, would continue an existing ban on testing of anti-satellite weapons, limit production of chemical weapons, require Reagan to continue to abide by the SALT II treaty and halt all testing of nuclear weapons if the Soviets agree to allow the United States to verify their current test ban.

Reagan argued that such measures would tie his hands in talks with Gorbachev. “Partisan differences on national security issues must be set aside during this crucial time in our negotiations with the Soviets,” the President said in his letter.

Would Veto Funding

At the same time, Budget Director James C. Miller III told House leaders that the President would veto any short-term spending measure designed to fund the government until early next week. This move was designed to deprive the Democrats of an opportunity to revive their arms control issues immediately after Reagan returns from Iceland.

Such a veto would have the effect of shutting down the government--except for essential services--at midnight Friday, shortly before Reagan starts his first meeting with Gorbachev. Neither the President nor his staff would be necessarily affected by the shutdown.

While some members of Congress thought it might be unseemly for the government to go unfunded while the President is negotiating with Gorbachev, Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) noted that the shutdown would coincide with a three-day weekend that includes Yom Kippur and Columbus Day. “I don’t think it makes any difference,” he said.

Wright said that the House has no intention of staying in session if Reagan chooses to shut down the government Friday. “If the government reaches a point to where it is not functioning, it is not our fault,” he said.

Crisis Averted

Funding for the government was to have expired at midnight Wednesday, but Congress averted that crisis by passing a two-day spending bill that takes it through Friday.

The biggest stumbling block in the dispute is the insistence of House Democrats that the President continue to abide by the terms of the SALT II treaty. Although the Democrats were willing to postpone their battle with Reagan on arms control issues until early next year, they wanted assurances that the President would not violate the treaty in the interim.

Earlier this year, Reagan indicated that he intended to break the treaty in November or December by equipping a 131st B-52 bomber with cruise missiles. Reagan justified his decision by charging that the Soviet Union has repeatedly violated the terms of the accord.

Reagan and his supporters in the GOP-controlled Senate told the House on Wednesday that they would accept a strongly worded resolution calling on the Administration to abide by SALT II, but they flat rejected any binding measure.

According to Wright, Reagan would not even make an informal pledge to uphold the pact. “If only he would just nod,” that would be sufficient, Wright said, “but apparently he doesn’t want to do that.”

Proposals Exchanged

Various proposals were exchanged Wednesday to settle the other arms issues.

In talks with Administration representatives and members of the Senate, Rep. Les Aspin (D-Wis.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, offered a compromise under which the other issues would simply be postponed until next April 1.

On that date, under Aspin’s plan, the Administration would be free to resume testing of anti-satellite weapons, but funding for the President’s Strategic Defense Initiative, the space-based missile defense system, would be cut--forcing the Congress and the President to negotiate a new arrangement.

Sources said that the Administration, instead, was demanding the right to conduct two tests of anti-satellite weapons with no such strings attached.

Agreement on SDI

At the same time, House Assistant Majority Leader Thomas S. Foley (D-Wash.) said that the White House and Congress had effectively agreed to provide $3.5 billion for SDI, commonly known as the “Star Wars” program, during the current fiscal year--splitting the difference between the levels set by the House and Senate. The Soviets are seeking to persuade Reagan to abandon the program in exchange for reductions in strategic nuclear weapons.

Also according to Foley, the final legislation is expected to permit the Administration to begin production of a new chemical weapon--the 155-millimeter artillery shell--while refusing to fund another weapon that the Administration wants in its chemical arsenal, the Bigeye Bomb. The United States has not produced any chemical weapons since President Richard M. Nixon imposed a moratorium in 1969.