Reagan Plan to Veto Road Bill Sets Up Confrontation

President Reagan’s decision to veto the $87-billion highway and mass transit bill, formally announced Monday, will set up the first confrontation between the new White House staff and Congress.

The fight over the measure, which contains funds for highway projects and would allow states to raise the speed limit to 65 m.p.h. on rural interstate highways, is seen at the White House as an opportunity for Reagan to reassert himself in the wake of the Iran- contra affair, even at the risk of an embarrassing setback.

“He doesn’t need confrontation, but he needs to demonstrate he’s in charge,” Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) said.

White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater, who announced the veto decision, said: “We think we’ve got a shot at sustaining the veto. If we do, it’s worth it.” He added that an unyielding stand would demonstrate Reagan’s dedication to cut the federal budget deficit and that “the philosophical pressure is very strong” to reject a measure seen as too expensive.

Reagan’s objection to the popular measure is directed at what he calls 152 “special interest projects” that would cost $1.8 billion over the five-year life of the bill.

In the House, key members say they have the required two-thirds majority needed to override a veto. But the outcome in the Senate, where the Democrats’ majority is slimmer than in the House, is more difficult to predict, and a Democratic Senate source said the vote would be closer than the 79-17 margin by which the highway bill was approved last Thursday.

For the White House, the veto--and what Republicans concede will be a tough battle to sustain it--will mean a highly publicized encounter with Congress during the first weeks of Howard H. Baker Jr.’s tenure as White House chief of staff.

When Baker, a Tennessee Republican who served as majority leader before leaving the Senate two years ago, became White House chief of staff three weeks ago, Reagan’s relations with Congress were at a low point, marked by two years of confrontation in which even the President’s allies complained that they were being ignored.

In vetoing the bill, Reagan would place some of his most loyal supporters--conservative Republicans from Western states--in a difficult position. By supporting the President, they would be voting against the politically popular position of allowing the individual states to raise highway speed limits. By voting to override the veto, they would be handing the President a defeat while voting for a multibillion-dollar measure that would spend about $10 billion more than Reagan seeks for mass transit and highway financing.

This dilemma was reflected in a letter that House Minority Leader Robert H. Michel (R-Ill.) sent to Reagan, telling the President that he supported the bill and that a veto “will surely put me between a rock and a hard place,” an aide to the congressman said.

Metro Rail Funds

The measure includes $870 million in funds for the Los Angeles Metro Rail subway. Transportation Secretary Elizabeth Hanford Dole said that about 14% of the mass transit money would go to Los Angeles for “projects they can take care of themselves.”

After Mrs. Dole and Sen. Dole met with Reagan on Monday afternoon, the transportation secretary said that sustaining the veto would be “tough” but added: “I’m optimistic.”

Fitzwater indicated that the President will act quickly when he receives the bill. It is expected to be delivered to the White House as early as today. Reagan, who will be traveling in Missouri on Thursday, could veto the measure Wednesday or Friday.

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.) portrayed the measure as a job-creating bill. He told reporters that the measure “means thousands and thousands of (construction) jobs” that would not be filled unless the bill becomes law.