House GOP stalling on arms-curb vote

WASHINGTON House Republicans last night were stalling action ontwo arms control measures that would require the United States toabide by the limits on nuclear weapons set forth in the unratifiedSALT II treaty and bar nearly all nuclear tests.

The arms control provisions are attached to an $11.3 billionstopgap spending bill that also includes a ban on random drug testingof federal workers. The bill is expected to pass overwhelmingly ifit comes up for a vote.

The delay maneuver, accomplished through a series of votes onmotions to delete various sections of the bill, was crafted by Rep.Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.).

Gingrich said his effort was not related to arms control butrather a protest of House spending procedure. He said the processallows Congress to finance a host of programs that the president canonly veto en masse.

Rep. Patricia Schroeder (D-Colo.), a leading arms controlproponent, acknowledged that if the tactic was aimed at convincingHouse members to go home without a vote, it might succeed, though shesaid the battle would be quickly rejoined.

"We have very strong support" for the arms control provisions,Schroeder said. If the vote does not occur now, she said, the issuewould be raised again in two weeks when the defense spending billhits the floor.

Arms control proponents were following through with a threatthey made last fall at the time of an agreement they say PresidentReagan reneged on.

At that time, the House already had passed five arms controlprovisions including the two in the spending bill, but theRepublican-controlled Senate balked because Reagan was on his way toIceland to meet with Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev.

Reagan promised that if Congress would allow him a free hand inthose negotiations he would abide by the SALT II limits and activelysupport ratification of two decade-old test ban treaties, HouseDemocrats said, but has failed on both counts.

The Republican stall was not a party-sanctioned arms controlprotest. Rather, the House GOP leadership decided not to fight thearms control provisions, according to Joanna Schneider, a spokeswomanfor Robert H. Michel (R-Ill.), the minority leader, because so manyother parts of the measure are also unacceptable.

"It's obviously to our advantage to have the whole thing appearas a big piece of junk," she said.

Robert J. Dole (R-Kan.), the Senate minority leader, hasannounced his intention to filibuster the measure if it comes to theSenate with the arms control amendments attached.

If the bill were to pass the Senate anyway, Reagan would almostcertainly veto it. In fact, House Democrats already have preparedanother "clean" money bill that would provide enough money to financethose programs that are running short in the middle of the budgetyear.