57 Senators Warn Reagan to Stop Violating SALT II

More than half the members of the incoming Senate, reflecting growing congressional discontent with the Reagan Administration’s nuclear arms policy, warned President Reagan on Monday against continuing to violate the 1979 strategic arms treaty with the Soviet Union.

In a letter to the President, 57 of the 100 senators who will convene next month called the Administration’s action exceeding one of the limits fixed by the unratified treaty “an open invitation to the Soviets” to go beyond the pact’s limits. Ten Republicans were among those who signed the letter.

In a separate message, the majority leader of the new Senate, Democrat Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia, said the nation is taking “dangerous risks” by exceeding the arms limits because the Soviets have greater arms production capacity.

The senators’ warnings arise from the Administration’s deployment on Nov. 28 of the 131st B-52 bomber equipped to carry nuclear-tipped cruise missiles, exceeding the treaty’s overall limit of 1,320 launchers.

“This situation will likely increase the Soviet nuclear threat to the United States, add a major new strain to the NATO alliance and aggravate the atmosphere necessary to reach the kind of new arms control agreement that we all want,” the 57 senators’ letter said.

Such concerns led House Democrats last week to approve a resolution criticizing the Administration’s action and vowing to urge the full House to adopt legislation mandating compliance with the treaty, known as SALT II.

The senators’ letter indicates that similar action could take place in the upper chamber, which, like the House, will be controlled by Democrats beginning next month.

It urged Reagan to return the nation to compliance with the treaty’s numerical limits “as long as the Soviets continue to remain within” them.

Treaty ‘Fatally Flawed’

President Reagan has called the treaty “fatally flawed,” but he had vowed to abide by it as long as the Soviet Union also did so. He authorized deployment of the 131st B-52 after charging on several occasions that the Kremlin has repeatedly violated the pact. The Soviets deny that they have done so.

In his separate message, Byrd suggested as options for returning to compliance “dismantling the aging Poseidon submarine” and retiring “a vulnerable, land-based Minuteman missile.”

Byrd wrote: “Such options not only make more military and fiscal sense, but they . . . do not undercut international support for American efforts” to negotiate arms agreements.

At a news conference, three senators said that Congress may force Reagan to comply with the unratified 1979 treaty if he does not do so voluntarily.

Threat of Legislation

“Unless something happens by negotiation between the White House and the Congress, legislation will almost certainly be offered,” Sen. Dale Bumpers (D-Ark.), the primary author of the letter, said.

“This letter today, signed by a majority of the Senate, is a warning shot,” said Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.). In their letter, the senators assert that the violation will have a “chilling effect” on future arms talks, dimming any progress made at the Iceland summit in October.

A White House spokesman would not comment on the two communications, saying that the President has not seen them.

Disarmament Agency Reaction

However, the Administration’s Arms Control and Disarmament Agency said that congressional efforts to force compliance with the treaty are “undercutting current U.S. attempts to negotiate real reductions in offensive nuclear weapons with the Soviet Union.”

Republican signers of the letter were John H. Chafee of Rhode Island, William S. Cohen of Maine, Dave Durenberger of Minnesota, Daniel J. Evans of Washington, Mark O. Hatfield of Oregon, John Heinz of Pennsylvania, Bob Packwood of Oregon, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, Robert T. Stafford of Vermont and Lowell P. Weicker of Connecticut.