The Nation - News from April 3, 1988

President Reagan defended his plan to spend billions of dollars on a giant atom smasher, saying the United States is not too strapped for cash to invest in the future. In delivering his weekly radio address from his vacation home near Santa Barbara, Reagan sought support for his request to Congress for the $4.4-billion atom smasher known as the superconducting super collider. Critics charge that the project is too expensive, considering the need to cut billions from the federal budget. In the Democratic response, Senate Majority Leader Robert C. Byrd (D-W. Va.) asked Americans to pressure the President into signing the omnibus trade bill worked out by House and Senate conferees last week. The White House had renewed its threat to veto the measure, arguing that it ties the President’s hands and that the Administration has “grave reservations” about it.