Treasury secretary backs budget in appearance; in Congress, and so does defense chief

Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger Tuesday sought to justify the administration's $236.8 billion military budget, saying it is vital to meet the growing Soviet military buildup.

Mr. Weinberger, in the first of six scheduled appearances on Capitol Hill in the next two weeks to defend the spending plan, used charts and graphs to display for the Senate Armed Services Committee what he described as a steady increase in Soviet military might during the 1970s while US military strength was falling.