The Nation : Ignore Spending Pressure, Reagan Urges

President Reagan beseeched Congress to “stand firm” against election-year pressure for expensive additions to his $1.1-trillion budget, but the chairman of the House Budget Committee called for more money to help the homeless. Reagan, defending the spending package in his weekly radio speech delivered from Camp David, Md., called it a “trim budget” that keeps the lid on spending while permitting increases for education, air safety programs and the battles against AIDS and illegal drugs. Rep. William H. Gray III (D-Pa.), chairman of the House budget panel, objected to Reagan’s request for $1 billion to build a manned space station, compared to $219 million for programs to help homeless people, “far less than the amount authorized by Congress.”