For the Record

Honeymoon over? Reagan’s budget cuts have Democrats gathering wagons in a circle. House Speaker Tip O’Neill warned: “We’re not going to ram through everything he’s asking. . . . Haste makes waste.” . . . Rep. Dan Rostenkowski says, “I can’t remember when we have had less consensus, less time, or more at stake.” Rostenkowski is chairman of Ways and Means Committee, which will handle Reagan tax package. Thanks to Democratic maneuvering, Committee is stacked 2 to 1 with Democrats though they account for only 56 per cent of House. By divulging seven social programs that won’t get axe, White House headed off some potential opponents, said liberal Rep. Margaret Heckler (R., Mass.) after a trip back home. “If people support these cuts in liberal Massachusetts, there must be support all over.” . . . But opposition is coming from predictable places, such as AFL-CIO and Naderites. Ralph Nader has written Reagan and OMB head David Stockman: “If you are truly interested in waste, look into the billions of dollars of tax breaks for multinational corporations before you make it harder for poor people to receive minimum legal services.” . . . Since Stockman has taken so much heat, Reagan has assured him: “We won’t leave you out there alone, Dave. We’ll all come to the hanging.”

Lest there be any doubt where the Administration stands on abortion, Marjory Mecklenburg, president of American Citizens Concerned for Life, is under consideration for head of Office of Adolescent Pregnancy Programs. Dr. J. C. Willke, president of National Right to Life Committee, says human-life amendment has around fifty supporters in Senate (where it needs 67) and around 250 in House (where it needs 291). . . . Annual meeting of pro-abortion National Abortion Rights Action League has just one issue on its agenda: human-life amendment. . . . Following example of New Right, Old Left National Committee for an Effective Congress now has hit-list of its own that includes four GOP senators: William Roth (Del.), Richard Lugar (Ind.), Harrison Schmitt (N.M ), S. I. Hayakawa (Calif.)—and independent Harry Byrd (Va.). . . . Conservative National Political Action Committee has placed Ted Kennedy at top of its ’82 hit-list. . . . Ready for ’84? Walter Mondale and Ted Kennedy have formed political action committees to prepare their drives for White House. Mondale’s group is Committee for America’s Future; Kennedy’s is Fund for a Democratic Majority. . . . UCLA economist Thomas Sowell has announced formation of national black group for purpose of countering NAACP and other liberal civil-rights groups. It will be called Black Alternatives Association. Sowell’s December interview in libertarian Reason prompted one “Mississippi Con federate” to quip that she wanted to be bused to his school.

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Honeymoon over? Reagan’s budget cuts have Democrats gathering wagons in a circle. House Speaker Tip O’Neill warned: “We’re not going to ram through everything he’s asking. . . . Haste makes waste.” . . . Rep. Dan Rostenkowski says, “I can’t remember when we have had less consensus, less time, or more at stake.” Rostenkowski is chairman of Ways and Means Committee, which will handle Reagan tax package. Thanks to Democratic maneuvering, Committee is stacked 2 to 1 with Democrats though they account for only 56 per cent of House. By divulging seven social programs that won’t get axe, White House headed off some potential opponents, said liberal Rep. Margaret Heckler (R., Mass.) after a trip back home. “If people support these cuts in liberal Massachusetts, there must be support all over.” . . . But opposition is coming from predictable places, such as AFL-CIO and Naderites. Ralph Nader has written Reagan and OMB head David Stockman: “If you are truly interested in waste, look into the billions of dollars of tax breaks for multinational corporations before you make it harder for poor people to receive minimum legal services.” . . . Since Stockman has taken so much heat, Reagan has assured him: “We won’t leave you out there alone, Dave. We’ll all come to the hanging.”

Lest there be any doubt where the Administration stands on abortion, Marjory Mecklenburg, president of American Citizens Concerned for Life, is under consideration for head of Office of Adolescent Pregnancy Programs. Dr. J. C. Willke, president of National Right to Life Committee, says human-life amendment has around fifty supporters in Senate (where it needs 67) and around 250 in House (where it needs 291). . . . Annual meeting of pro-abortion National Abortion Rights Action League has just one issue on its agenda: human-life amendment. . . . Following example of New Right, Old Left National Committee for an Effective Congress now has hit-list of its own that includes four GOP senators: William Roth (Del.), Richard Lugar (Ind.), Harrison Schmitt (N.M ), S. I. Hayakawa (Calif.)—and independent Harry Byrd (Va.). . . . Conservative National Political Action Committee has placed Ted Kennedy at top of its ’82 hit-list. . . . Ready for ’84? Walter Mondale and Ted Kennedy have formed political action committees to prepare their drives for White House. Mondale’s group is Committee for America’s Future; Kennedy’s is Fund for a Democratic Majority. . . . UCLA economist Thomas Sowell has announced formation of national black group for purpose of countering NAACP and other liberal civil-rights groups. It will be called Black Alternatives Association. Sowell’s December interview in libertarian Reason prompted one “Mississippi Con federate” to quip that she wanted to be bused to his school.