Word: mx
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Just two months ago, Ronald Reagan won a major round in his tireless fight for the MX missile when he persuaded Congress to release $1.5 billion to step up production of the controversial weapon. But in the long-running MX battle, victory can be fleeting. Last week the Senate forced the Administration to limit deployment of the MX to 50 missiles, half the number the White House wanted. The Defense Department, which had hoped to produce 48 more missiles in fiscal 1986, agreed to 21 and ultimately settled for twelve. Said Senate Democratic Leader Robert Byrd of the Administration...
However, whereas the national interest groups fight over such issues as Nicaragua and the MX missile, the violence at House Committee meetings usually rages over such issues as the cost effectiveness of Styrofoam cups...
Under the compromise, the rise in defense spending would be held to 3%, meaning that funding for many big-ticket items, from the MX missile to Star Wars research, would be pared or stretched out. The Senate Armed Services Committee last week drafted a proposal for a 3% military increase in fiscal 1986--a cut of almost $10 billion from Reagan's original budget that did not eliminate any major weapons programs. Instead, it deferred a scheduled military pay increase and scaled back by 60% a request for increased manpower...
Somewhat paradoxically, one area where the Administration could be vulnerable is on the MX. Later this year Congress will be asked to approve $4 billion for 48 more MX missiles as part of Reagan's fiscal-1986 defense budget. After the House vote, several prominent Democratic Senators announced a plan to cap the number of MX missiles in the silos at 40. This would more than halve the Administration's requested allotment...
...that they are in deep trouble in their drive to persuade Congress to provide $14 million in aid to the Nicaraguan contras. Their script calls for the President to go all out for the contras, whom he has dubbed freedom fighters, in the same way he did for the MX. "It's tough," said one aide. Then referring to the MX vote, he added, "But so was this. Go back and look where we were ten weeks ago on this...