Bush’s Vote Averts Senate Cut in ‘Star Wars’ Funding

Vice President George Bush cast a tie-breaking vote Tuesday that kept funding for President Reagan’s “Star Wars” missile defense system from being slashed by the Senate.

By a vote of 51 to 50, the Senate thus rejected an amendment that would have cut “Star Wars” funding in the fiscal 1988 defense spending bill from $4.5 billion to $3.7 billion--an $800-million cut that Administration supporters portrayed as a backdoor approach to kill the program.

It was the seventh tie-breaking vote cast by Bush in his nearly seven years as vice president, and the fourth such vote on a controversial defense issue. It also was the first time in more than two months that all 100 senators--four of whom have been out campaigning for the presidency--were present for a vote.

Although the President’s supporters hailed it as a victory, funding for the controversial program--known officially as the Strategic Defense Initiative--is almost certain to be slashed before Congress finishes work on the fiscal 1988 defense spending measure.

Not only must the Senate bill be reconciled with a House measure allocating only $3.1 billion for the program, but many members of Congress have indicated that they will support even deeper cuts if, as expected, the President continues to oppose a provision of the defense bill that bans testing of the space-based “Star Wars” system.

Reagan has vowed to veto the entire defense bill when it reaches his desk because he opposes a provision authored by Sens. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) and Carl Levin (D-Mich.) that would require him to abide by the traditional interpretation of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, which rules out testing of anti-missile systems in space.

The President had requested a $5.7-billion funding level for “Star Wars” in fiscal 1988. Although Reagan’s request was cut by the Senate, the $4.5-billion authorization nevertheless is 22% higher than the $3.5 billion authorized by Congress for the current fiscal year.

Sen. J. Bennett Johnston (D-La.), author of the unsuccessful effort to slash SDI funding to $3.7 billion, argued that the authorization should be trimmed to restrain Reagan from developing the so-called “kinetic kill vehicle,” a system that would house U.S. rockets in space with the intention of using them to destroy Soviet missiles on impact.

Johnston said the concept of the kinetic kill vehicle has been discredited by most reputable scientists, some of them employed by the Pentagon. “The Department of Defense wants space-based kinetic kill vehicles, even though their own people say they won’t work,” he said.

Sen. Dale Bumpers (D-Ark.) added that 36 members of the National Academy of Sciences also are opposed to it. “Now we’ve got a President, who is a former actor, stacked up against all of the country’s leading scientists saying, 36 to 1, that it won’t work,” he said.

But Sen. Pete Wilson (R-Calif.) strongly rejected Johnston’s argument that Administration officials should forget the kinetic kill vehicle and focus instead on more sophisticated laser technology. Wilson said: “He is urging us today to drop the ham to pick up the weenie.”

Wilson and the President’s other supporters also argued that a drastic cut in SDI funding would only cripple the program and send the wrong signal to those who are involved in U.S.-Soviet talks on restricting strategic nuclear weapons. The Soviets have tried without success for several years to persuade Reagan to abandon “Star Wars” in exchange for deep cuts in strategic weapons.

“If this amendment prevails, it will be an indication that we are undermining the efforts of our negotiators at the very time we are making progress,” said Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.), ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Sen. Malcolm Wallop (R-Wyo.) argued that without sufficient funding, the Administration will not be able to satisfy critics of SDI.

“There are unanswered questions,” he said. “How on earth do you get to an answer if you deny us from doing (research). It’s a killer amendment.”

Sen. Dan Quayle (R-Ind.) added: “This is a nice, quiet way to put SDI into the grave.”

Later, the Senate voted 51 to 47 to kill a proposal by Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) to continue the current ban on testing of anti-satellite weapons as long as the Soviets refrain from testing their system.

The Senate defense bill, which is expected to pass finally next week, provides $303 billion for military spending in fiscal 1988. A House-passed version of the same measure authorizes $289 billion.