President Reagan and Congress in Veto Showdown Over Spending Bill

ROGER MUDD, anchor:

It’s been almost two years around here since the Congress was able to override a presidential veto. Today, it failed again. It was President Reagan’s fifth veto, this time of a three billion dollar underwriting of mortgages for low and middle income housing. Here’s Judy Woodruff.

JUDY WOODRUFF reporter:

Minutes before he vetoed the spending bill, the President said he didn’t want to talk about it publicly.

President RONALD REAGAN: I think we’re going to have a statement on that later.

WOODRUFF: But Reagan aides had said for days that he wouldn’t sign any bill that included a three billion dollar subsidy plan for the housing industry. And, just before noon, they made good on that threat. In a message to Congress explaining his veto, the President said while he shared concerns about the housing industry, he would not “promote a housing recovery by going even deeper in debt”. On the House floor, Democrats appealed to their colleagues to override the veto, by accusing the President of neglecting the economy.

Representative JAMES WRIGHT: He says we have established a program for economic recovery and the key is lower interest rates. I wonder where the President has been? Has someone failed to awaken him?

WOODRUFF: But Republican leaders argued sustaining the veto was a critical test of holding down spending.

Representative ROBERT MICHEL: But I submit that we better act now to hold the line, or else it will be ”Katie bar the door” regarding all those future appropriation bills that we’ll be considering later this year.

WOODRUFF: Most Republicans did side with the President. On a vote of 253-151, the override attempt fell short by 17 votes. Congress quickly tried to recoup with another spending bill minus the housing subsidy. But, it was still too expensive to suit the President, and White House aides say that he will veto that one, too.

So, the President appears to have successfully faced down the Congress again; but he has come away with a tightfisted image that may not be an asset in an election year. Judy Woodruff, NBC News, the White House.