For the Record

Kemp-Dole fireworks have distracted attention from fight over constitutional amendment to balance federal budget. Early in August, Senate, led by Strom Thurmond (R., S.C.) and Orrin Hatch (R., Utah), voted 69 to 31 in favor of amendment (two more than the 67 votes required). . . . Over in House, measure is still bottled up in Rep. Peter Rodino’s Judiciary Committee. Supporters need 218 signatures on discharge petition to pry proposed amendment loose from Rodino. They claim they have had as many as 207 signatures, but number has been reduced to 201, thanks to pressure from two House leaders opposed to amendment, Majority Leader Jim Wright (D., Tex.) and Majority Whip Tom Foley (D„ Wash.). … Opponents of measure say deadline for consideration this session is already past, but Rep. Phil Gramm (D., Tex.) vows that once his side gets 218 signatures the amendment will get to House floor this session—even if it means special session of Congress. . . . An indication of pressure against amendment: 36 of its co-sponsors—11 Republicans and 25 Democrats—have yet to sign discharge petition.

Final days in battle over $98.3-billion tax bill filled with revelations. Treasury Secretary Donald Regan: “It’s great to have a good theory, but when that theory comes up against perception, something has to be done.” His 35 years on Wall Street, he says, have shown him the perception of money-men “is contrary to supply-side convictions.” . . . Sen. Robert Dole, chief architect, insists bill doesn’t represent turnaround in Reagan’s supply-side philosophy. “We’re not trying to make a U-turn,” he told Meet the Press. “We’re just trying to avoid going over the cliff.” Dole also confessed his bafflement at Reaganomics: “I never really understood all that supply-side business.” . . . OMB Director David Stockman was able to muster only faint praise for tax bill. It is, he told reporters, “not the greatest thing since sliced bread. . . . There are lots of things—including withholding [of taxes on dividends and interest]—you wouldn’t want in an ideal world.” . . . Rep. Jack Kemp (R., N.Y.) agrees, after a fashion, with President Reagan’s contention that tax bill won’t hurt the lower and middle classes. Kemp says the bill won’t hurt you as long as you “don’t use the telephone, don’t have big medical expenses, don’t pay medical insurance premiums, don’t suffer losses due to theft or casualty, don’t smoke, don’t ride in airplanes, don’t have a savings account.” . . . Leon Shull, national director of Americans for Democratic Action, wholeheartedly endorsed tax bill. “Liberals should be behind this bill one hundredfold,” he says. “The bill includes in it reforms we have sought for years.” . . . Flush with victory, liberals are already eying final stage of Reagan’s three-year tax-cut program—the individual tax cuts scheduled to begin July 1983. “Many private economists, as well as Democrats in Congress,” says Christian Science Monitor’s business reporter Harry B. Ellis, “contend that elimination of the third-year tax cut would provide a clear signal to Wall Street that the government intends to put a lid on deficits.”

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Kemp-Dole fireworks have distracted attention from fight over constitutional amendment to balance federal budget. Early in August, Senate, led by Strom Thurmond (R., S.C.) and Orrin Hatch (R., Utah), voted 69 to 31 in favor of amendment (two more than the 67 votes required). . . . Over in House, measure is still bottled up in Rep. Peter Rodino’s Judiciary Committee. Supporters need 218 signatures on discharge petition to pry proposed amendment loose from Rodino. They claim they have had as many as 207 signatures, but number has been reduced to 201, thanks to pressure from two House leaders opposed to amendment, Majority Leader Jim Wright (D., Tex.) and Majority Whip Tom Foley (D„ Wash.). … Opponents of measure say deadline for consideration this session is already past, but Rep. Phil Gramm (D., Tex.) vows that once his side gets 218 signatures the amendment will get to House floor this session—even if it means special session of Congress. . . . An indication of pressure against amendment: 36 of its co-sponsors—11 Republicans and 25 Democrats—have yet to sign discharge petition.

Final days in battle over $98.3-billion tax bill filled with revelations. Treasury Secretary Donald Regan: “It’s great to have a good theory, but when that theory comes up against perception, something has to be done.” His 35 years on Wall Street, he says, have shown him the perception of money-men “is contrary to supply-side convictions.” . . . Sen. Robert Dole, chief architect, insists bill doesn’t represent turnaround in Reagan’s supply-side philosophy. “We’re not trying to make a U-turn,” he told Meet the Press. “We’re just trying to avoid going over the cliff.” Dole also confessed his bafflement at Reaganomics: “I never really understood all that supply-side business.” . . . OMB Director David Stockman was able to muster only faint praise for tax bill. It is, he told reporters, “not the greatest thing since sliced bread. . . . There are lots of things—including withholding [of taxes on dividends and interest]—you wouldn’t want in an ideal world.” . . . Rep. Jack Kemp (R., N.Y.) agrees, after a fashion, with President Reagan’s contention that tax bill won’t hurt the lower and middle classes. Kemp says the bill won’t hurt you as long as you “don’t use the telephone, don’t have big medical expenses, don’t pay medical insurance premiums, don’t suffer losses due to theft or casualty, don’t smoke, don’t ride in airplanes, don’t have a savings account.” . . . Leon Shull, national director of Americans for Democratic Action, wholeheartedly endorsed tax bill. “Liberals should be behind this bill one hundredfold,” he says. “The bill includes in it reforms we have sought for years.” . . . Flush with victory, liberals are already eying final stage of Reagan’s three-year tax-cut program—the individual tax cuts scheduled to begin July 1983. “Many private economists, as well as Democrats in Congress,” says Christian Science Monitor’s business reporter Harry B. Ellis, “contend that elimination of the third-year tax cut would provide a clear signal to Wall Street that the government intends to put a lid on deficits.”