Reagan’s Dash to Capitol Fails; Highway Veto Upset : 65 M.P.H., L.A. Subway Approved

The Senate, ignoring a dramatic last-minute trip to the Capitol by President Reagan, overrode his veto today and voted into law the $88-billion highway bill that earmarks $870 million for the Los Angeles Metro Rail subway.

The vote was 67-33, exactly the two-thirds needed, as 13 rebellious Republicans--including California Sen. Pete Wilson--held their ground through intense lobbying by the President. It came one day after the Senate had tentatively voted 65-35 to sustain Reagan’s veto. But Democrats, in a procedural move, won the right to a second vote.

The Senate action moves the measure into the lawbooks, since the House earlier this week voted 350 to 73 to override Reagan’s veto.

Effect on President

White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater denied that the defeat would be damaging to Reagan’s ability to govern for the next 21 months.

Fitzwater quoted Reagan as reciting the verse of an old Scottish ballad as he met with Republicans before the vote: “ ‘I am wounded but not slain. I will rest awhile but I will rise and fight again.’ It’s time for all of us to fight again.”

Asked to respond to suggestions by some lawmakers that a Reagan loss on so crucial a fight would reduce his presidency to caretaker status, Fitzwater told White House reporters: “I think the context of the President’s remarks is that he wanted to show that he’s willing to fight. . . . There will be no lame-duckism” through the remainder of his Administration.

Today’s tense roll call came after Reagan had spent nearly two hours in the Capitol in private meetings with Senate Republicans, urging them to sustain both the veto and, with it, his political prestige.

‘Fought the Good Fight’

“I want to indicate that we fought the good fight,” Senate Republican leader Bob Dole said in a virtual concession of defeat before the roll call began.

Dole said that in his meetings, Reagan “didn’t bend any arms, didn’t twist any arms, didn’t make any deals. He came here as the President”

The measure permits the states to raise the speed limit to 65 m.p.h. on rural stretches of interstate highways and includes provisions for more than 100 highway demonstration projects tailor-made for individual members of Congress.

But the battle on the Senate floor went beyond the provisions of the bill to become a test of Reagan’s political strength.

Stinging Defeat

The vote was a stinging defeat for Reagan, who is trying to rebound from the political damage inflicted by months of controversy over the Iran- contra scandal. With top Administration officials and Senate GOP allies unable to find the single vote needed to sustain the veto, Reagan’s trip clearly represented a decision to place his political prestige on the line.

He met first with all GOP senators, who greeted him with a standing ovation. Reagan was then ushered into a second session with the 13 GOP senators who sided with Democrats on Wednesday in the preliminary vote on the veto.

Accompanying Reagan were Vice President George Bush, Chief of Staff Howard H. Baker Jr. and Transportation Secretary Elizabeth Hanford Dole.

Prepared to Switch

The Senate voted narrowly to sustain the veto on Wednesday, but freshman Sen. Terry Sanford of North Carolina--the lone Democrat to side with Reagan--announced that he was prepared to switch his vote.

Sanford’s announcement set off a 24-hour scramble by Administration officials and Senate GOP leaders to find an offsetting Republican vote.

When Reagan arrived on Capitol Hill, some Democrats suggested that the Republicans already had found the needed support to sustain the veto, and that Reagan’s trip was designed to give him personal credit for an accomplished achievement.

But one GOP lawmaker who voted against Reagan initially, Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi, said, “I can’t think of anything he would say that would change my mind.”

It was the second time in two attempts this year that Congress overrode a veto by Reagan and the ninth time in Reagan’s six years as President. The first veto override of this year--the first time since Reagan came to office that Democrats have controlled the Senate--came on a clean water bill.

The White House decided to turn the highway bill veto into a test of Reagan’s political standing after the Iran affair.