Word: plan
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...order to preserve an element of surprise in its announcement, the White House restricted discussions of the ABM plan to top officials on what is called a "close held" basis. Most congressional leaders were kept in the dark until the afternoon of the speech. So were most of those on the the political and policy staffs in the West Wing. The paragraphs in Reagan's speech on new defensive technologies were drafted separately and then blended into the speech by the President. The overriding factor in the timing and handling of the issue?one that discomfited a few senior aides?...
...this concerted public relations offensive, the Administration will have serious trouble salvaging what it considers to be an acceptable defense budget in Congress. House Democrats last week passed their own version of a budget for fiscal 1984, which begins in October. Depending on how inflation is calculated, the Democratic plan raises defense spending by about 2% to 4%, compared with the more than 10% after-inflation boost that Reagan wants...
...Democratic leadership used various parliamentary maneuvers to ensure that the budget plan it had worked out would be considered as a whole; the only amendment they would permit was a substitute of Reagan's proposed tax and spending package. But no Republican was willing to introduce the Reagan version of the budget on the floor for fear of being politically tainted by its large deficit ($188.8 billion) and whopping increases in defense. The G.O.P. members preferred instead to let the Democratic proposal, which calls for tax hikes of $30 billion and deficits of $174.5 billion, be the focus of debate...
...Democratic budget plan will not pass the Republican-controlled Senate, of course. But the President will have trouble prevailing there too. On defense spending, Republican leaders in the upper chamber are closer to the Democrats in the House than their leader in the White House. They have publicly urged that the growth in the Pentagon budget be cut to about 5%. The more pragmatic members of the President's staff, led by James Baker, are hoping for a compromise at about 7%. For them to persuade the President to come down to that level may be as difficult as getting...
...other scientists who were at the White House briefing, including Victor Weisskopf of M.I.T., Hans Bethe of Cornell and Simon Ramo of TRW Inc., are troubled by the plan. "I don't think it can be done," says Bethe, a Nobel laureate in physics. "What is worse, it will produce a star war if successful." Ramo, one of the developers of the ballistic missile, likes the idea in theory but says, "We don't know how to do it." He also worries about the awesome offensive power that would be inherent in what are conceived of as defensive weapons. Asks...