Word: mx
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...discussed it in February with two Democrats on Capitol Hill, Senator Henry Jackson of Washington and Congressman Michael Barnes of Maryland, and they sponsored resolutions calling for such a panel. Despite its success in using blue-ribbon groups to handle the hot issues of Social Security reform and the MX missile, the White House was skeptical at first. But by the end of June, after Reagan's own speeches failed to galvanize support for his policies, the idea began to sound better. "We're going to have to build a consensus on Capitol Hill damn soon," said...
...close call for the MX; censure for Studds and Crane...
...first test flight in June, from California to the South Pacific, was impressively smooth. But the MX missile's voyage through Congress last week was a rough one, and the Administration needed all its considerable lobbying skills to save the funding for the beleaguered weapon. Shortly before the House voted 220 to 207 to authorize $2.5 billion to build 27 missiles, the President and Vice President were still calling wavering Congressmen. "Those two are dynamite when it comes to lobbying," said an admiring White House aide after the narrow victory...
...crucial win for the Administration, which plans to deploy the 96-ton, ten-warhead missiles in modified Minuteman silos in 1986. "We need the MX," President Reagan urged Congress in a letter, "not only for force modernization but to keep the Soviets moving at the negotiation tables." Expected Senate approval of the funding was held up by a filibuster by Democrat Gary Hart of Colorado, a presidential candidate, who lambasted the missile as a "vulnerable, destabilizing, first-strike weapon...
...close vote in the House reflected a significant shift in sentiment. In May, 91 Democrats voted to restore research and development money for the MX. But last week, only 73 Democrats voted to authorize production money. The defectors, including Majority Leader Jim Wright, were under intense pressure from the Democratic caucus and nuclear-freeze groups. Many Democrats question whether the Administration is sincere about bargaining for arms reductions. "The President himself has shown some flexibility, but it hasn't trickled down to his advisers," said Democratic Congressman Dan Glickman of Kansas...