Veto Escalates Role of Defense in Campaign : Reagan Says Bill Was Effort to ‘Handcuff’ Him; Bentsen Sees ‘Poisoning’ of Bipartisan Support

President Reagan traded charges Saturday with Democratic vice presidential candidate Lloyd Bentsen and another top Senate Democrat over the politics of the President’s veto of the defense authorization bill, escalating the issue’s role in the presidential campaign.

In his weekly radio speech, Reagan defended his veto of the $299.6-billion measure, contending that it was a congressional attempt to “handcuff the President” in negotiations with the Soviets. Reagan asserted that Congress is threatening “an even worse defense bill” as a route toward “political retribution.”

Bentsen, however, accused Reagan and Vice President George Bush of “poisoning” bipartisan support for national defense--Reagan by vetoing the spending bill and Bush by accusing the Democrats of being soft on defense.

Nunn Assails Bush

And in the Democratic reply to Reagan’s speech, Georgia Sen. Sam Nunn, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said that Congress can create a new bill acceptable to Reagan’s defense and security advisers, but he doubts the measure would pass muster with Bush’s campaign.

In vetoing the bill last Wednesday, Nunn said, Reagan “followed the advice not of his national security team, but rather of (Bush’s) political team. He made this decision without consulting a single Democrat in Congress.”

Since the veto, Democrats have charged that the move was designed to bolster Bush’s underdog campaign by focusing attention on defense and foreign policy issues, where Michael S. Dukakis, the Democratic presidential nominee, is regarded by the Republicans as weak.

In making their charges, the Democrats have noted that the measure contained $61 million more than Reagan requested. The bill included nearly all the funding that Reagan had requested for the military services and new weapons programs, but spending for the so-called “Star Wars” program was cut about 20%.

Bush had advised Reagan to veto the measure, even though Defense Secretary Frank C. Carlucci had urged the President to accept it. In drawing up the bill, Congress consulted with Carlucci and Lt. Gen. Colin L. Powell, the President’s assistant for national security affairs.

Reagan and Bush “said no to the biggest defense budget in history--one that all parties had agreed on,” Bentsen said Saturday in a speech to a Mexican-American veterans group in Corpus Christi, Tex. “Unfortunately, they also said yes to poisoning defense policy with partisan politics.”

On Thursday, Bush told the same group that Dukakis was “far outside the mainstream” of U.S. defense policy backed by both Democrats and Republicans since World War II. Moreover, Dukakis’ steady opposition to new weapons systems such as the MX missile amounts to a policy of “unilateral disarmament,” Bush charged.

Without responding specifically to Bush’s charges, Bentsen contended that the Republicans are jeopardizing support for defense spending to make political points.

Bush “talked about bipartisanship,” the Texas senator said, “while at the very same time the Administration was trying to seize partisan advantage by vetoing a defense authorization bill that is vital to America’s national security.

Bomber Pilot

“As a veteran, as a senator and now a vice presidential candidate, my aim is to keep politics out of defense,” said Bentsen, who like Bush was a bomber pilot during World War II.

He said both he and Dukakis are “strong on defense. The Democratic Party is willing to pay the price to defend freedom. You have my word on it,” he said.

Bentsen also alluded to the FBI’s continuing investigation of Pentagon procurement practices, raising an aspect of national defense in which the Democrats regard Reagan and Bush as vulnerable.

A Democratic Administration will “never wink at corruption in the Pentagon,” he said. “And we won’t allow your hard-earned tax dollars to be used for kickbacks on military contracts.”

The several hundred delegates to the American GI Forum gave Bentsen a warm reception and a standing ovation when he finished. On Thursday, Bush drew a larger crowd, but his more substantive speech got a more restrained reception, according to association officials.

While Bush noted that his daughter-in-law is a Mexican-American, Bentsen’s speech included several stories that he told in Spanish.

“Bentsen has been a champion for Hispanics. I think it was a wise move to put him on the ticket,” said Rudy Cantu, a member of the organization from Corpus Christi.

The forum claims 150,000 members whose support, as Bentsen said, could prove crucial in key states such as Texas and California.

In a related development Saturday, White House Chief of Staff Kenneth Duberstein acknowledged that politics was a factor in the defense-bill veto but denied that it was the sole reason.

In an interview with columnists Robert Novak and Rowland Evans on the Cable News Network, Duberstein said Reagan decided to veto the bill “on policy grounds. Sometimes good policy is also good politics.”

Duberstein said the bill, as passed by the Senate, was agreeable to the Administration but “was junked up” by “liberals in the House” when differences between the House and Senate versions were reconciled by a conference committee.

In his radio address, Reagan said the bill “represents an attempt by Congress to handcuff the President in our arms reduction negotiations with the Soviets.” He called it “an all but open attempt to block” the anti-missile system.

‘Pitiable State’

Asserting that when he assumed office in 1981 the nation’s defenses “were in a pitiable state,” Reagan characterized the buildup of U.S. arms during his Administration as the stick that drove the Soviets to the bargaining table and out of Afghanistan, which they had invaded, as well.

“If I had accepted that bill,” he said, “it would have undermined the strength we worked so hard to restore, in time, jeopardizing all our remarkable diplomatic advances.”

In the wake of the veto, Democrats have threatened, in future legislation, to cut more money from the “Star Wars” budget and to link the substitute legislation to Reagan’s favored aid to Nicaraguan rebels.

Noting this, Reagan said: “Well, let me ask you, what could be more deplorable than to use the defense of this nation as a political pawn? It won’t happen. Not if I have anything to say about it. As long as I’m President, our nation’s defenses, including our strategic defenses, will remain above partisan politics.”

Lee May reported from Washington and David G. Savage from Corpus Christi.