Balanced-budget measure survives a Senate rebuff

The Senate easily rejected the first major attempt to kill the balanced-budget constitutional amendment, and Republican leader Howard H. Baker Jr. said he had ''slightly more'' than enough votes to pass the measure.

A final vote was set for noon today (Aug. 4). The Senate voted 70 to 25 against a proposal by Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D) of Connecticut to require a balanced federal budget through a simple ''pay-as-you-go'' law instead of amending the Constitution. It was offered as a substitute to the constitutional amendment.