I Will Veto Again and Again

It was only the opening round in what seems likely to be a yearlong battle over the budget, but Ronald Reagan threw his hardest knockdown punch. The President called reporters and cameramen into the Oval Office to witness his veto of a bill that would have extended about $2 billion in additional federal loan guarantees to debt-burdened farmers. Said Reagan: "Someone must stand up to those who say, 'Here's the key, there's the Treasury, just take as many of those hard-earned tax dollars as you want.' " Moreover, he pledged, "I will veto again and again until spending is brought under control." Legislators made no attempt to override the veto. They did not have the votes.

However, the victory did not improve Reagan's chances of getting the kind of budget that he wants, featuring another big increase in military outlays and further drastic cuts in many civilian programs. To the contrary: the Senate Budget Committee voted 18 to 4 to give the Pentagon $11 billion less than Reagan recommended for fiscal 1986, which starts on Oct. 1, and $79 billion less than the President is requesting over the next three fiscal years. It proposed to deny the military any increase at all next fiscal year, beyond what is necessary to keep pace with inflation, and hold the increase in 1987 and 1988 to 3% in excess of inflation. Reagan is asking for increases of 5.9% above inflation next year and more than 8% the following two years.

At the same time, the committee rejected many of the President's demands for spending cuts, opting instead for freezes. It took essentially that approach on farm-price supports, student loans, mass-transit subsidies, Medicare and Medicaid, among other programs. But the committee deadlocked on Social Security, schizophrenically voting down both a proposal to eliminate cost of living adjustments in benefits and a proposal to leave the COLAs alone.

White House Spokesman Larry Speakes grumbled that the committee is "marching in the wrong direction." Reagan, he said, is "prepared to go to the people" to get Congress to change course. The fiery language of the farm veto presumably gave a first taste of what the President might say.

It started when Republican Robert Dornan of California, in a speech before a conservative group, called New York Democrat Thomas Downey "a draft-dodging wimp." Downey heard about it and a couple of days later, as Dornan was walking out of the House chamber, put a hand on the Californian's arm to prevent him from leaving. Asked Downey: "Did you say those things about me?" Dornan wheeled around. "Yes. So what?" Moments later, Dornan grabbed the babyfaced New Yorker by the collar and tie, pulled him close and warned, "Stay out of my face, now and forever!"

The expletives-deleted confrontation brought to the surface a long-standing feud. Downey, 36, received a 1-Y medical draft deferral during the Viet Nam War because of a pierced eardrum. Dornan, 51, a former Air Force jet pilot, was in flight training at the tail end of the Korean conflict. "I was getting my Air Force wings when Downey was in kindergarten," says Dornan.