Reagan Offers to Sign Trade Bill Without Labor ‘Frills’

President Reagan announced Saturday he will veto the trade bill Congress passed last week, but he virtually promised the lawmakers he would sign a modified version of the legislation if they remove a requirement that employers give advance warning of plant closings.

“All Congress has to do is drop the ruffles, frills and flourishes put there for the special interests, and we can have a trade bill and have it soon,” Reagan said in his weekly radio address. “I urge the congressional leadership to schedule prompt action on a bill immediately after my veto is sustained.”

Reagan did not dwell on the plant-closing section of the measure, which presidential candidates Michael S. Dukakis and Jesse Jackson and other Democrats have made a focal point of their campaigns. Apparently seeking to limit the Democrats’ opportunities, Reagan merely cited that provision along with other sections that he said would bring about “restrictions on exports” and “costly regulation” of private industry.

Main Stumbling-Block

Administration officials left no doubt, however, that the President regards the plant-closing provision as the major stumbling-block to his signing the legislation. One Administration strategist said the veto message will cite two or three other sections (among them restrictions on Alaskan oil exports), but that the primary objection is to the plant-closing language.

The provision would require that workers be given 60 days’ notice of sizable layoffs. Reagan is said to view it as a step toward government interference in business that would make the economy less flexible, and business lobbies oppose it on similar grounds.

There was no immediate indication of whether Democratic congressional leaders would submit a modified trade bill. Administration strategists said that would depend largely on whether House Speaker Jim Wright (D-Tex.) and Senate Majority Leader Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.) want to see the bill become law or use the dispute as a campaign issue.

Democrats’ Viewpoint

Congressional strategists who requested anonymity predicted Saturday that the Democrats will try to get the most out of the issue before they decide whether to resubmit the bill without the plant-closing rule. They said the majority leadership probably would not ready the trade measure for the President’s desk for another two or three weeks, so that Dukakis and the other Democratic candidates have time to raise the issue repeatedly in primary campaigns. They also could be expected to ask labor advocates and other groups to intensify pressure on lawmakers to override the veto.

“This isn’t over yet,” one congressional strategist said. “We’re not just going to roll over because he says he’s going to veto the bill.”

In the Democrats’ response to Reagan’s broadcast, Ohio Rep. Don J. Pease said that Reagan would be making “a foolish mistake” to veto the trade bill. Pease called the layoff notice “a measure of common courtesy.”

“Members of Congress get 60 days’ notice when they lose their job; so does the President of the United States. Why shouldn’t ordinary citizens?” Pease asked.

Position of Confidence

Reagan’s remarks Saturday showed the Administration is confident it has enough support in the Senate to sustain a veto. The Senate passed the bill last Wednesday 63 to 36, three votes fewer than would be needed to override Reagan’s refusal. Passage in the House came on a vote of 312 to 107, more than enough to override. (Both chambers must muster two-thirds majorities before a veto can be overturned.)

The President’s somewhat muted reference to the plant-closing provision also reflected an awareness that although he feels strongly about the proposal, his stand has become a political liability. Administration officials concede privately that most Americans seem to believe a 60-day advance notice requirement is only fair.

Reagan also used the radio time to remind voters of how well the economy is performing in comparison to conditions under the Jimmy Carter Administration.