92% of the Loaf

The Administration's foreign-aid bill got through the Senate last week, but not without a bruise.

Crying economy, some Republicans had hacked away at the program's main trunk --funds for ECA. Most Senators agreed with ECAdministrator Paul Hoffman that the foreign aid was not charity but self-protection; the difficulty was that Europe, being in no one's constituency, had to be debated on its own merits alone. Missouri's James Kem wanted to slash off $1 billion. Ohio's Taft offered an amendment to knock off $500 million, about 16 1/2% of the total. He would favor cutting "every reducible appropriation," foreign & domestic, Taft declared, by just about that percent.*"If we hope to save $3 billion this year towards balancing the budget," he argued, "no smaller amount will suffice."

From the Democratic side of the aisle, Texas' Tom Connally gibed: "[Taft] sits in his office with one eye on the map of Ohio and the other on his pocket." Taft's amendment lost on a tie vote. But an amendment by New Hampshire's Styles Bridges for a $250 million slash, just like the one already passed by the House, was pushed through. Final total: $3.1 billion, of which about 90% goes to Europe under ECA, most of the rest to South Korea and other non-Communist areas in Asia.

Tucked in with EGA, the President's Point Four program, to give technical aid to backward areas and encourage U.S. private investments abroad, squeaked through (37-36) to become duly authorized for the first time by Congress. The Senate voted the $45 million Harry Truman asked for; since the House authorized only $25 million, the difference will have to be fought out in conference.

*Taft was consistent in his economizing: he also voted against the Senate's spoils-laden rivers and harbors bill which, when adjusted with the House's bill, added up to $1,480,000,000. Last week it was sent on to the President.

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