Highway Veto Seen as Key Test for Reagan : Deals Rumored on Eve of Override Vote

Congressional Democratic leaders, preparing for showdowns on President Reagan’s veto of the $88-billion highway funds bill, accused the White House Monday of swapping favors for votes upholding the veto.

The House is to vote today on whether to override the veto, and Speaker Jim Wright (D-Tex.) said he heard that the White House was “making promises” to some members in an all-out effort to keep the President’s decision from being overturned.

“I feel confident we’ll vote to override in the House,” said Wright. He noted that even Minority Leader Robert H. Michel (R.-Ill.) plans to oppose Reagan. “It’s obvious that the veto is purely political . . . an attempt to show that the President is in command and he’s macho.”

Wright said that an override in the House, which requires a two-thirds vote, will show “if members are more interested in (building) roads and bridges or in pumping up egos in the White House.”

Offers to Senators

In the Senate, where the override vote could come as early as today and was considered too close to call, Majority Leader Robert C. Byrd (D-W. Va.) also alluded to rumors of White House favors being offered in return for votes to sustain the veto.

“I hope this doesn’t degenerate into a votes-for-special-favors deal,” Byrd said. “If the rumors are true, the White House may be offering special favors in terms of sustaining the veto.”

He said that White House cooperation on “spending projects” is being offered to some senators in the hope of sustaining the veto. Support for federal judicial nominations also reportedly has been offered.

Wright said that he hopes the senators “will not allow themselves to be led around like prize bulls in the circus, with rings through their noses, by the White House.”

Rep. James J. Howard (D-N.J.), chairman of the Public Works and Transportation Committee, said on the House floor that he heard the White House was “dishing out bridges and judgeships--federal judgeships” to win Senate votes.

Two Votes Short

Howard said that Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.) told him that those hoping to override Reagan in the Senate were “two votes down” Monday from the number needed. It was unclear how many senators remained undecided.

Reagan rejected the five-year highways program Friday. He called it a “budget buster” filled with pork-barrel projects--a charge that congressional supporters of the bill vehemently deny.