Panel OKs Treaty Interpretation Limit

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee, setting off an angry partisan exchange, Tuesday adopted language declaring that the Reagan Administration shall not change the “common understanding” of the new U.S.-Soviet intermediate-range missile treaty without the Senate’s consent.

After the measure was approved on a 12-6 vote, Republicans warned of a bitter fight when the treaty is brought up for debate on the Senate floor and accused Democrats of trying to embarrass President Reagan and the Administration.

The committee is expected to complete consideration of amendments and vote on the treaty today, perhaps clearing the way for it to be approved before President Reagan’s trip to the Moscow summit at the end of May.

The first serious partisan battle since the committee began its deliberations on the treaty raised the prospect of a harsh floor fight--but it did not change supporters’ confidence that it will be approved by a comfortable margin.

Nevertheless, the assertion that the Senate must approve any change in the treaty’s interpretation--either by advice and consent or adoption of a specific statute--infuriated some Republican backers of the pact.

Indiana Sen. Richard G. Lugar, who has been the committee’s leading Republican spokesman for the agreement, warned that there will now be a bitter fight on the Senate floor, where the agreement had been expected to sail through easily.

Saying that the condition, authored by Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.), was “a deliberate attempt to embarrass the President, embarrass the Administration,” Lugar warned: “I hope everybody will buckle their seat belt, because we will have a real one on this.”

His warning was echoed by Sen. Daniel J. Evans (R-Wash.), who accused committee Democrats of trusting the Soviets more than they trust the Reagan Administration and declared that he might vote against ratification.

‘Killer’ Amendments

The eruption of angry accusations from Republicans came after a clear majority of GOP committee members had joined Democrats in fending off attempts to attach “killer” amendments to the treaty.

Until Tuesday, the two sides had hoped to agree on language clarifying the Senate’s understanding of the treaty and asserting its constitutional role. When the bipartisan effort failed, Cranston introduced the condition unanimously backed by committee Democrats.

The treaty, signed by Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev on Dec. 8, bans all ground-launched missiles with a range of 300 to 3,400 miles.

Tuesday’s battle over the Cranston condition had been developing for weeks. The dispute has its roots in the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, whose interpretation was broadened by the Reagan Administration when it began flight testing components of the “Star Wars” missile defense system.

Against that background, Democrats insisted that language was needed to clarify the Senate’s interpretation of the new agreement and its right to approve any new interpretation in the future.

Senators had met several times with State Department and White House officials and exchanged a series of letters with Secretary of State George P. Shultz in an effort to avoid a confrontation over the issue.

Lugar and other Republicans, accusing Democrats of wanting a partisan fight, continued to maintain Tuesday that the treaty should be adopted as is, without any clarifying language.

When it appeared that the Democrats would win the fight in a straight showdown decided along party lines, Sen. Jesse Helms (D-N.C.), the chief foe of the treaty, joined Cranston and the Democrats in fashioning compromise language.

Earlier Tuesday, the Senate went into closed session for about three hours to discuss intelligence estimates on Soviet missile forces.