Word: mx
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...elaborate White House choreography worked, as it had in the Senate the previous week, when lawmakers handed Reagan a 55-to-45 victory. Led by Wisconsin Democrat Les Aspin, the Armed Services Committee chairman, who drew hisses and boos when he defied his party's leadership and defended the MX, the House gave Reagan slimmer but significant margins in the back-to-back votes (219 to 213 on Tuesday, 217 to 210 on Thursday) needed to free the MX funds. The outcome was clearly influenced by Democrats' reluctance to be seen as "soft on defense." Said California's Tony Coelho...
Opponents of the missile argued that the MX is too expensive, vulnerable to Soviet attack and likely to upset the nuclear balance between the superpowers. Some Democrats who voted for the missile hope that by letting Reagan take the MX to the bargaining table, they can force him into serious negotiations ; with the Soviets. Said Representative Norman Dicks of Washington: "We want to keep President Reagan's feet to the fire and give him no excuse...
Kampelman, a politically savvy Democrat, endured his negotiator-turned- lobbyis t status without complaint. He shuttled between 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and Capitol Hill, met privately with House Speaker Tip O'Neill of Massachusetts, an MX opponent, and coordinated strategy with Minority Leader Robert Michel of Illinois over a tuna-fish sandwich. He lectured House members on the folly of giving away bargaining tools to the Soviets: "As they enjoy the apple that falls from the tree that they did not have to pay for, they quite understandably wonder what other fruit will fall from that tree that they...
...Hill. "One gets the impression," wrote Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev to a West German peace group, ". . . that they need these (arms) talks as a screen for carrying through their military programs. Appropriations of millions of dollars are being pushed through for the manufacture of new batches of first- strike MX missiles...
White House aides hailed the latest MX vote as a signal success. A loss, they said, would have put a dent into Reagan's mandate and given Congress a psychological edge in the months ahead. For their part, the lawmakers insist that the MX vote will not put them at a disadvantage in coming battles. Said Democrat Leon Panetta of California: "By putting that much emphasis on this issue, the Administration undermined others. This may prove to be a Pyrrhic victory for them...