Work Done & Undone

Harassed by its own problems, Congress had no patience at all with Harry Truman. Within four days, it thumpingly overrode three presidential vetoes--more reversals in a comparable period of time than any other President had ever suffered./-

The President had vetoed 1) the Reed-Bulwinkle bill, which exempts railroads from antitrust suits for rate agreements, provided the rates are approved by the Interstate Commerce Commission; 2) a bill which would remove 750,000 salesmen and "independent contractors" from social security; and 3) a Labor Department appropriation bill which contained a rider transferring the U.S. Employment Service to the Federal Security Agency. All were overridden by wide margins.

In its last pell-mell days, Congress also:

> Extended the terms of AEC Chairman David Lilienthal and other AEC commissioners for two years.

> Passed a bill to admit 205,000 displaced persons in the next two years and permit 15,000 refugees already in the U.S. to remain. Because the bill stipulated that eligible DPs must have arrived in the Allied occupation zones of Germany before Dec. 22, 1945 (thus excluding many Jews fleeing 1946 Polish pogroms), and set aside special quotas for farmers, Baits & Volksdeutsche, it was denounced as discriminatory against Jews and Catholics.

> Extended the President's power to make reciprocal trade agreements for one year (instead of three), authorizing the Tariff Commission to determine how much rates could be cut without danger to domestic industry.

> Brought its total appropriations for the second session to $34,990,983,929, thus cutting about $2 billion off the President's budget request.

As usual, many bills were shelved, including some supported by the G.O.P. majority. Among these:

> Repeal of the federal tax on oleomargarine.

> The Mundt-Nixon bill to curb Communists.

> The $65 million loan for construction of U.N. headquarters in New York.

> The Taft-Ellender-Wagner housing bill.

> Federal aid to education. >Return of tidelands oil rights to the states.

President Truman's domestic program got short shrift. Congress refused to act on requests for:

> Stand-by rationing and price control.

> Civil-rights legislation (antilynching, anti-poll tax and federal FEPC bills).

> An increase in the minimum wage from 40-c- to 75-c- an hour.

> Extension of social security to some 20 million additional persons.

/- The 80th Congress has overridden six Truman vetoes. Andrew Johnson was overridden 15 times in his one term, Franklin D. Roosevelt nine times in four terms.

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