WASHINGTON -- In a stinging setback to the Republicans' legislative manifesto, two dozen Republicans in the House of Representatives bolted from their party's bill yesterday to help hand the President Clinton a significant victory on setting priorities for ballistic missile defenses.
The 218-212 vote, which exposed divisions within Republican ranks, capped a day of partisan debate over a far-reaching bill that would change the United States' role in United Nations operations and the NATO alliance as well its defenses against ballistic missiles.
Several prominent Republicans, including Rep. John R. Kasich of Ohio, the House Budget Committee chairman, backed a Democratic amendment that put a higher priority on financing combat readiness and development of defenses against Scud-like missiles than on a system to defend the United States against a ballistic missile attack.
The vote reflected deep suspicions that Republicans might try to revive a version of the costly "star wars" anti-missile system, first proposed by President Ronald Reagan in 1983.
The opening debate on the national security tenets of the Republican "Contract with America," called the National Security Revitalization Act, centered on which party offered the most responsible strategy for the post-Cold War world. Lawmakers are expected to vote on the bill tomorrow but considered several amendments yesterday.
The bill would limit U.S. contributions to U.N. peacekeeping operations, restrict placing U.S. troops under U.N. command and promote NATO membership for four Central European nations.