TRANSCRIPT OF REAGAN STATEMENT ON REPORT OF STRATEGIC FORCES COMMISSION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000505370084-1
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 13, 2010
• Sequence Number: 84
• Publication Date: April 20, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2010!09113 : CIA-RDP90-00552 R000505370084-1
Bridget Tie-Up: !gn atthe Crossroads
By STEVEN R. WEISMAN-
" Sped?a1wT4e!tesYOrkTimep
WASZriINGTON, April 19 -'Altho
there has been little publicity about the
budget at the White House lately, Presf.
dent Reagan is approaching what his
aides say is a turning point that seems
likely to shape the character of his
residency through the
1984 election.
News The decision Mr. Reagan
Analysis, faces is whether to invclve
4
himself fully in the effort to.
break a budget stalemate
in the Republican-controlled Senate.
The , Senate Budget Committee, has
bogged down in disagreement over pos-
sible tax increases and other steps to
close the gaping Federal deficit in the
budget for the 1984 fiscal year.
Realistically, in the view of the White
House, the President's impending deer
sion comes dowii to whether he is pre-
pared to give his blessings to an even-
tual budget compromise that might be
better than what he could get otherwise
but is still far from his liking.
Congressional experts agree that any
eventual deal on the budget would have
to contain more domestic spending, less
military spending and more taxes than
Mr. Reagan has said he could tolerate.
'A Tough Judgment Call'
The question is wletlier the President
cant gh lnto a possible re-election cam-
pafge uupporting new tax increases and
other ~stasteffuull items. "Is the game
worth the candle? a White House of ft.
vial asked. "It's a tough judgment
call."' `?
Today the White House reaffirmed
Mr. Reagan 's general commitment to
trying lo break the budget stalemate.
Earlier Hewn reports said key aides
werentirging him to walk away from it.
Defense Secretary Caspar W. Wei>-
berger vvas reported to have advised the
President at a Cabinet meeting tq let
the drive for a budget resolutipn fall by
the wayside and then veto or sign indi?
ERRORS ARE CITED
IN MURDER HEARING
Virginia Attorney General Asks
Death Sentence Be lifted
... 4 SpacialtoThe! ewyorkTime?
1tH1yfONp. Va., April 19 In an
unusual admission of errors in a capital
nwrdercase, the Virginia. Attorney
General's office has asked a Circuit
Court judge to Alexandria to vacate the
death sentence of a convicted murder-
er. ,
Assistant Attorney General Jerry P.
Slonaker made the request in a letter to
the judge, Wiley R; Wright Jr. In the let-
ter, dated April 12, Mr. SIonaker said
the jury teat recommenlded that Wil-
bert Evans be executed had been
giveilrecordsr of Mr. Evans's criminal
past that were "seriously misleading
and! or defective."
Mrt Evans was sentenced by Judge
Wright in Jur$1981 for the fatal shoot-
ing of Deputy William Truesdale in an
attempt to escape from the Alexandria
city jail. Ir. Evans, from Raleigh
N.C., had been brought to Alexandria to
testify as a state,witness in a criminal
case."
. After the death sentence, Mr. Evans
was sent to join 18 other death row in.
mates at Virghf a's Mecklenburg Cor?
rectionai Center: In April 1982, a week
before he was to be electrocuted, Mr,
Evans telephoned the American Civil
Liberties Union in Richmond and asked
for help.
Two Days Before Execution \
Chan ICendrlck, Vi ma director of
the A.C.L.U,, sought the volunteer aid
of an Alexandria criminal lawyer,
Jonathan Shapiro. "I didn't want to get
involved," Mr. Shapiro said in an inter-
view. "But I agreed to help and I just
got deeper aid deeper into it and before
I knew it I was Evans's lawyer."
r :r ; Sh~dppiro filed a petition with the
court to block Mr. Evans's execution,
Two days before Mr. Evans was sched
uled todiethesentence wasstayed.
Mr, Shapiro's research found that the
jury in the case had been told of four
past ponvictions in North Carolina in
which 1Kr Evans had no lawyer. Such
convictions, have been inadmissible to a
sentencing jury since 1980.
It was also found that North Carolina
prosecutors had dropped an assault
charge against Mr. Evans that was pre-
sented to the Alexandria jury as a con-
victiop. ~The jury examined Mr. Evans's past
violations h an effort to determine the
likelihood thaLhe might cause harm in
the f of ure which is a factor in deciding
on a possible death sentence.
~. Meat Move Up to Judge
The Attorney General's action leaves
the n@xt moyeup to Judge Wright.
If Judge Wright does not vacate the
-I- sentence; Mr. Evans's lawyers could
file an appeal in Federal court.
In his letter to the judge detailing the
sentencing errors in the case, Mr.
Siona~ter wrote that, "in the interest of
justice," the state was "constrained to
concede that Wilbert Evans's current
death sentence cannot be sustained" on
if toe judge vacates the sentence, the
Alexandria Commonwealth's Attorney,
John 1S1och, willhave to decide whether
to ask that , a secoid jury consider
whether Mr. Evans should dieor get life
in prison. "
Governor Refuses Clemency
MO}!lTGOMERYI,AIa., April 19 (AP)
- John Louis Eva3d, a condemned
murd rerr who is scheduled to be elec-
trocuted eajly Friday, told prison offi-
ciais toda that his lawyers would ap-
peal tq block the execution
Hour! earlier, Gov. George C. Wal.
lace refused to grant clemency to Mr.
Evans 33 yea{ old, who was sentenced
to die for a sfaying committed in a pawn
shop hgldup in 1977.
the warning was apocalyptic in tone and
seems to have jolted some White House
aides, who later said they had been
complacent in thinking that the eco-
nomic recovery would solve all of the
Administration's budget problems.
Sees Reagan 'Revolution' in Peril
Mr. Stockman warned'that the Rea-
gan "revolution," as well as the eco-
nomic recovery itself, might be lost as a
result of the budget stalemate. In the
absence of agreements in Congress to
enact new savings, he said, there will be
deficits in excess of $200 billion "as far
as the eye can see."
The Congressional budget process
vidual` applo nation bills as the year
progresses, .
The White House signaled the Presf-
dent's eagerness to' help break the
budget ? impasse. But Administration
aides agreed privately that Mr; Reagan
had not taken the steps to move that ef?
fort along and that this had dismayed
many of his allies in the Senate.
. Recovery Linked to Deficit
The problem Mr. Reagan faces is the
same one plaguing himsince late 1981;
when he was first urged by Congres.
stonal allies to scale back, on key ele-
ment of his economic program to get
the Federal deficit under control.'
E` There is a new backdrop to Mrt Rea.
has been in existence only since 1974,
and its critics are legion. The Presi-
dent, in a moment of exasperation, once
called it "Mickey Mouse," although he
was able to use the process to great ad?
vantage last year and especially in 1981.
- '
Nevertheless, the process is sacred to
Mr. Stoclgnan and others. The budget
process requires Congress to set overall
targets for large categories of spending
and revenue, and then to meet those tar-
gets in the ensuing months.
The process also gives Congress a
vehicle, known as "reconciliation," in
which it can tie together a legislative
package aimed at enforcing the spend.
ing reductions embodied in the original
budget resolution. The omnibus "recon-
ciliation acts produced Mr. Reagaa's
great budget victories in the last two
years.
Specific Savings Cited
Today Mr. Stockman is warninS that
if the president does not compromise on
the overall resolution, he will not be
able to get the specific savings he wants
through the reconciliation procedure.
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THE NEW 'X ORK FIMES WEDNESbAY, APRIL 20, 1983
gan's problem: the view that the ceo?
nomfc recovery, which has apparently
begun to show sins of strength, could
weaken. and die if nothing is done to
lower the deficit.
In addition, the White House feels
that the differences in Congress on how
to approach the deficit problem are far
greater this year than in the past. Re-
publicans are more independent of the
White House, and Democrats, with a
stronger hand because of last year's
election results, are better able to press
their approach.
That was the warning this week by
David A. Stockman, director of the Of.
flee of Management and Budget.
Even by Mr. Stockman's standards,
LTA. IS REAaIf WHEN YOU ARE'
Approved For Release 2010!09113 : CIA-RDP90-00552 R000505370084-1
man at the Cabinet meeting Monday
cited three areas of saving that might
be lost if the budget procedure found-
ered. They are Civil Service retirement
programs, Medicaid and Medicare, and
welfare, food stamps, child nutrition
and other benefits for poor people,
Mr. Reagan, has proposed $55 billion
in savings in these areas for next year
alone. The Democratic controlled
House has gone on record against al-
most all of the cuts, and Republicans
are wondering whether they have
reached the threshold of public accept-
ability for more cuts in social spending.
In the ;view of many of his allies, the
President's only hope of getting Repub-
licans to fight for the savings is for the
White House to yield in. other areas,
such as taxes and militar
s
endi
y
p
ng
. ,.
Their fear, then, is that if the budget
process collapses, there will be no hope
to contrul the deficits. .