Senate OKs Defense Bill; Veto Pledged : President Opposed to Restrictions on A-Arms, ‘Star Wars’

A politically divided Senate today approved a $303-billion Pentagon budget bill that President Reagan has already promised to veto because of its restrictions on his nuclear arms policies and “Star Wars” program.

The 56-42 vote split along party lines, with 52 Democrats and four Republicans supporting and 40 Republicans and two Democrats opposing the measure, which authorizes military programs in the fiscal year that began Thursday.

The vote ended three weeks of contentious debates and votes on a bill that annually becomes a vehicle for considering a wide range of national security and foreign issues.

Reagan has specifically promised a veto because he objects to two amendments backed by majority Democrats and adopted over the objection of Republicans.

Cites 1972 ABM Pact

The first, approved 58 to 38 two weeks ago, provides that the President cannot spend any money on the “Star Wars” anti-missile program if its tests violate the existing interpretation of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty with the Soviet Union.

The second, passed 57 to 41 earlier today, bars the Pentagon from spending money for nuclear weapons that exceed the numerical limits in the unratified SALT II treaty. Reagan says he will no longer follow that 1979 pact because he says the Soviets are violating its provisions.

Final passage came after Democrats dropped efforts to attach an amendment that would have required congressional approval of Reagan’s policy of reflagging 11 Kuwaiti tankers and using Navy convoys to protect their trips through the war-torn Persian Gulf. Democrats will push that effort in separate legislation.

The bill proposes to authorize $302 billion for the Pentagon, contrasted with the $288 billion in the measure voted by the Democratic-controlled House. Both totals are less than the $312 billion originally sought by Reagan. Last year’s defense budget was $288 billion.

More Than 400 Differences

Today’s vote sends the Senate bill to a House-Senate conference committee to resolve more than 400 differences between it and the counterpart voted by the House last May.

The President has also promised to veto the House-approved version, because that chamber added three arms control restrictions, including the SALT II compliance requirement, a ban on tests of anti-satellite weapons and a ban on all but the smallest U.S. nuclear tests.

Senate Republican Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) said: “He has said he will veto it, and I would urge he do that. The President would certainly be justified in exercising his veto authority.”

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) agreed, saying of the SDI restriction, “We have cluttered this bill with a dangerous, unnecessary and damaging amendment. It will be vetoed.”

But Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.), chairman of the Armed Services Committee, wasn’t so sure, and he issued his own warning.

“President Reagan can veto it and veto it and veto it,” Nunn told his colleagues, “but he cannot pass an appropriation bill, he cannot fund the national security of this country until he signs something into law.”

Nunn’s comment indicated that Democrats believe they couldn’t round up the 67 votes, or two-thirds of the Senate, needed to enact the bill into law over Reagan’s veto.

Even before the bill came to the floor last month, 38 of the chamber’s 46 Republicans had promised to vote to sustain a Reagan veto.