No Sirens, No Smoke--Just Numbers

In contrast to the theatrics of last year, when the Reagan Administration delivered its budget by ambulance, there was no fanfare Monday when the Government Printing Office opened its doors.

About 200 reporters stood in line to get a copy of President Reagan’s $1.02-trillion proposal as soon as it was made available to the media. Copies of the document sold for $11 each.

In 1986, Administration officials, clad in hospital gear, brought the budget plan in an ambulance, then wheeled it in on a gurney to demonstrate that it was not “dead on arrival” as critics had charged.

The year before, the Office of Management and Budget director was photographed handing out the first copies of the budget in a smoke-filled room--smoke produced by dry ice--as comic relief to the Democrats’ charges that the budget numbers were nothing but “smoke and mirrors.”

This year, however, the Iran arms-sales scandal that has dogged the Administration since November seems to have deadened its sense of humor, and the presidential image-makers decided to play it straight. Adding to the somber mood was the knowledge that Reagan was scheduled for surgery the same day.