Senate Refuses to Invoke War Powers Act

WASHINGTON — The Senate today refused to restrict President Reagan’s Persian Gulf policy as it fashioned a Pentagon budget bill that Reagan already has promised to veto because of its restrictions on his “Star Wars” program.

The Democratic-controlled chamber voted 50 to 41 against invoking the War Powers Act, the 1973 law which limits a President’s ability to send U.S. troops to situations of imminent danger. Reagan says the law doesn’t apply to the Persian Gulf operations.

Amid a chorus of congressional criticism, the Navy began escorting reflagged Kuwaiti tankers in the gulf July 22. Critics say U.S. servicemen are being placed at risk unnecessarily and that the United States could be drawn into the 7-year-old Iran-Iraq War.

Sen. Dale Bumpers (D-Ark.) told his colleagues that “we’re courting disaster in the Persian Gulf.”

Sen. Brock Adams (D-Wash.) agreed, saying, “We are proceeding down the track toward war and that is what the War Powers Act is meant for.”

But Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) said “the question is whether we want to cut and run in the gulf or whether we want to stick by the commitment we’ve made.”