Carter Fires a Salvo

He hands Congress a veto--and threatens more

A veto is a prerogative that a President is given under the Constitution. It is not an abnormal authority. It is one that should be a routine part of the interrelationship between the White House and Capitol Hill. And it is not only a pleasure to have that authority to make my own leverage more effective, but it is a duty that falls on me."

With that defiant challenge to his antagonists in Congress, Jimmy Carter vetoed his first major bill last week --only the fifth time he has exercised this power since he became President 19 months ago. He also warned that there might be more vetoes to follow; and there were ample indications that he planned to use all the other political weapons in the presidential arsenal to make Congress do his bidding. A tougher, more aggressive President was clearly emerging; his subordinates were threatening rebellious members of Congress with a loss of patronage and a withdrawal of crucial assistance in their re-election campaigns. "There is a misreading up on Capitol Hill," said a senior White House aide, justifying the presidential shift. "A lot of people in Congress don't think Carter is a strong President. A veto like this is traumatic, but it will help us in the long run."

Carter carefully chose his ground for making a stand. He did not really have to veto the $37 billion military procurement bill, which was an authorization for spending, not a final appropriation. He could have bargained with Congress for what he wanted before the final bill was passed. But he was determined to make a public issue out of the $2 billion nuclear aircraft carrier that Congress had included in the bill over his objections.

Claiming that a fifth such carrier was not needed, he maintained that its huge cost would divert funds needed for the buildup of NATO forces. The nuclear carrier, he said, would "waste the resources available for defense and weaken our nation's military capabilities in the future." Congressional leaders seemed to agree that he was right. They predicted that, despite the lobbying for the carrier by Carter's onetime mentor Hyman Rickover and other admirals, the veto would be sustained. Said House Majority Leader James Wright: "I voted for that carrier, but I thought the President made a good case." Agreed Liberal Democrat Morris Udall: "The big carrier has been a kind of sacred cow, and I credit the President with wise leadership on this."

In his press conference last week, Carter cited other bills as likely candidates for a veto. The most important is the $16.3 billion tax cut passed by the House earlier this month. If that reduction is increased by the Senate, or if higher income groups get most of the benefits, Carter said, he would "have no hesitancy about vetoing it." White House aides are now engaged in quiet negotiations with Senate Finance Committee Chairman Russell Long, who favors a bigger tax cut. As one Administration official says: "I don't think anyone can tell you what Russell will do in the end."

Another bill in danger of a veto is the appropriation for the nation's various water projects. Despite outcries of protest from Western states, Carter is expected to veto the appropriation when it reaches his desk next month. Yet another endangered bill is the tax credit for the parents of college students that the Senate voted last week.

Carter's combativeness--if it works--comes none too soon. Last week I brought the usual quota of bad news for the President. He slipped to another alltime low in the polls. An ABC-Louis Harris survey showed that by 69% to 30% voters did not approve of the job he was doing. Headshaking spread from Capitol Hill to Carter's own staffers, and a certain malaise seemed to set in. There were rumors in Washington, in fact, that Carter might decide not to run again.

But the President was not giving his subordinates much time to brood last week. To get his cherished civil service reform bill through Congress, he enlisted the aid of every Cabinet member; no one was exempt. A kind of "friends list" had been drawn up, matching each Cabinet secretary with members of Congress he might be able to influence on certain bills. That way the Cabinet official could be held accountable for particular lawmakers' votes. Republican Representative John Anderson was startled to receive a call from Secretary of State Cyrus Vance urging him to vote to limit veterans' preference in the civil service bill. Many members of Congress, however, considered these tactics a case of presidential overkill. The measure has already been watered down, and the federal bureaucracy is notoriously impervious to any presidential directive for change. The bill is currently stalled because the federal labor unions are insisting on more liberal bargaining rights. Carter refuses to give in for fear of losing his Republican supporters. The House adjourned for summer recess last week, and the Senate is scheduled to leave at the end of next week. So Congress will not be able to consider the bill until returning after Labor Day. But the White House remains confident that an acceptable bill will be signed into law before the session ends in October.

To convince Congress that Carter means business, some Administration officials are making outright threats of political retaliation. At breakfast with a group of reporters last week, Agriculture Secretary Bob Bergland said he had prepared a hit list of Democrats in Congress who would be punished for thwarting the President. "This isn't reprisals," explained Bergland. "It's old-fashioned political discipline." Bergland did not name any particular offenders, but he had a small number of Democrats in mind, including Congressmen Richard Nolan of Minnesota and Glenn English of Oklahoma, both of whom infuriated the White House by ardently championing the farm strike leaders last winter. One step Bergland may take is to reject the people Congressmen want appointed to the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service, a rich source of patronage on the Hill.

The Democratic National Committee has been encouraged by the White House to withhold funds and assistance from rebellious Democrats who are up for reelection. One target is Illinois Representative Martin Russo, who voted against Carter's hospital cost containment bill. "He'll get nothing, absolutely nothing," declares an Administration official. The White House also canceled an appearance of Commerce Secretary Juanita Kreps at a seminar sponsored by Russo. "This is absolutely stupid," complains the Congressman. "They're hurting themselves more than they're hurting me. Carter lost my district in 1976, and this was the Administration's chance to get its point of view across to a lot of businessmen."

Questioned about such measures at his press conference, the President denied that he was using an enemies' list. "It is not part of my nature, and it would be counterproductive if I attempted to do it," he said. Carter, in fact, has been inviting members of Congress to play tennis with him or join him for a movie or lunch at the White House. Nonetheless, there was distinct uneasiness on the Hill over the prospect of losing patronage.

The President could take comfort in two congressional votes last week:

>During a Thursday-night meeting with a group of stalled House-Senate conferees, he warned that any more delay on energy legislation would dangerously weaken the U.S. dollar. As a result, a majority agreed to vote for a compromise that will allow a gradual rise in the price of natural gas until controls are removed altogether in 1985. Said the President: "This is a major step forward under the most difficult of circumstances." Now the bill will be returned to the Senate. There it faces a likely filibuster by liberals who feel the compromise will prove too costly to consumers.

>By an unexpectedly wide margin of 233 to 189, the House voted to extend the March 1979 deadline for the ratification of the ERA--which Carter strongly supports--for another three years and three months. The House also voted 227 to 196 not to allow states to rescind their approval of ERA during the extension period. But the battle is far from over, since the amendment faces a filibuster in the Senate, which may prevent a vote before the end of the session. "Why are we going through this agony and ecstasy?" asked Mississippi Representative Trent Lott during debate. "Women have been going through the agony and ecstasy all their lives," replied Barbara Jordan to the applause of the galleries; "and we will continue to go through it until ERA is part of the Constitution."

In the midst of his conflicts with Congress, Carter was already looking beyond Washington to the voters he knows he must reach. Last week he flew to Columbia, Mo., to address some 5,000 members of the Midcontinent Farmers Association, a powerful Midwestern cooperative. The President reminded his audience that prices for their products had risen because of federal support programs, and he promised that quotas on imported beef would not be increased this year.

Then he asked for the farmers' support for his programs. Invoking the name of native son Harry Truman, Carter declared: "The fight against inflation becomes nearly impossible when the pressures of special interest lobbyists are successful. These lobbyists care nothing about the national interest--as long as they get theirs. We will never win the fight against inflation unless we help the Congress to resist these pressures."

At the end of his speech, he vaulted over a fence to plunge into a crowd of well-wishers, while his anxious Secret Service guards tried to catch up as best they could. As people applauded, cheered and reached for the President's outstretched hand, it was clear that Carter had patched up at least some of his problems with farmers in this part of the country.

He will get a chance to mend other badly neglected fences during the two-week vacation that he began last Friday. He was scheduled to spend four days at his home in Plains, Ga., a visit that is intended to remind disgruntled Southerners that he is one of them. Then he goes west to Idaho for some rafting on the Salmon River and to Wyoming for some hiking around Jackson Hole. On his return, he must prepare for his summit conference with Israeli Premier Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. In his talks with these two shrewd visitors, his new-found toughness will be put to its hardest test. If the conference is a moderate success, Carter may reverse his decline in public esteem. If not, his future may be gray indeed. -

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