172 sLAde goRton: A hALf centuRy in poLitics
South Carolina, who lost his job as Budget Committee chairman in the
Reagan Revolution. “We didn’t worry about deficits and that is why we’re
the minority party.”^2
The Reagan brain trust believed the Domenici plan was unlikely to be
approved by the House and worried it would jeopardize Republican re-
election prospects at mid-term. Domenici, who skillfully worked both
sides of the aisle, polled the committee on how it wished to proceed. The
Republicans were resolute, the Democrats diffident. J. Bennett Johnston,
a conservative Democrat from Louisiana, warned, “We’re not going to be
able to do it without the active involvement and leadership of the Great
Communicator himself.” Gorton was undeterred, saying, “The flag of
leadership is passing from the White House to this committee.”^3
Domenici and Gorton had asked the administration to submit more
detailed economic assumptions underlying its proposed cuts. Stockman
and Treasury Secretary Donald Regan made back-to-back appearances
before the budget committees to plead their case. When Gorton defended
the Export-Import Bank, which helped finance sales of Boeing jets, Stock-
man insisted that its funding should be cut by $220 million. The pain
had to be shared. Gorton found an ally in Nancy Kassebaum of Kansas,
already a senior member of the committee after only two years in the Sen-
ate. Boeing had a plant in her state, too. They pushed through a motion to
restore half the funds for the bank, substituting cuts in subsidized hous-
ing and community development to offset the move.^4
While the Budget Committee backed federal spending cuts of $34.6
billion in fiscal year 1982, it also approved Gorton’s amendment to add
$18 million to help Public Health Service hospitals in Seattle, Baltimore
and New York City comply with federal fire safety codes. That enabled
them to qualify for Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement and made it
easier for them to survive on their own. Magnuson was pleased. Maggie
had championed the hospitals, out-foxing President Nixon to keep them
open. Gorton also helped save the Urban Indian Health program in 1983
when Reagan wanted to kill it.^5
inKhe t wA e of the AssAssinAtion of Egyptian President Anwar el-
Sadat by Muslim fundamentalists in October of 1981, Gorton and Bob
Kasten sponsored a resolution to veto Reagan’s $8.5-billion plan to sell
Saudi Arabia five Boeing-built Airborne Warning and Control System
planes, nearly 1,200 Sidewinder missiles and upgrades for its F-15 fighter
jets. Some critics of the AWACS deal called it a dangerous, cynical swap
to protect access to Saudi oil and give the U.S. a military foothold in the