Action on Deficit Urged

SOME spending programs may have to be arbitrarily cut - and $8.1 billion taken from the military budget - unless the 1990 deficit is reduced to the level allowed by law, says Richard Darman, director of the Office of Management and Budget. ``It remains my hope, and my cautiously optimistic expectation, that necessary legislation'' cutting selected programs and raising revenues can be enacted when Congress returns Sept. 5, Mr. Darman said. The government can avoid the across-the-board reductions if Congress will implement an agreement reached with Bush in April, Darman said.

The deficit is on a path that, in the absence of further action, would lead to $116.2 billion of red ink during the 1990 budget year. The law limits the 1990 deficit to $100 billion.