Into the Jaws

While the President was away, Congress took stock of itself and the nation, then settled down to the task of chewing parts of the President's legislative program into pulp.

First the House fastened its teeth to the $29 billion omnibus appropriation bill. The more the House looked at the thing, the bigger the bill had grown--an additional $385 million for national defense, millions for creeks, dams and other sordid items of pork-barrel politics. It had become just too much to digest; besides, members had been getting letters from constituents demanding an end to reckless spending. With more courage than it had shown all year, the House put its jaws to work.

One of the bravest of the brave was 34-year-old, World War II Navy Hero (Silver Star, D.S.C.) Pat Sutton, Democrat. Conceding that "it seems queer and funny," Pat offered an amendment to eliminate a $1,800,000 dam planned for his own district in Tennessee. His astonished colleagues, obviously impressed, passed the amendment.

For an Overgrown Bureaucracy. On a bigger front, New York's tough old trumpet-voiced John Taber (R.) proposed an amendment that sent shivers running up & down the spines of Washington's bureaucracy. Taber proposed that Congress cut 200,000 employees off Government payrolls; reduce travel allowances by 20% for civilians, by 5% for the military; reduce allotments for Government transportation by 10%, for communications by 10%, for printing by 10%, for contractual services (e.g., law work, special expertizing, etc.) by 10%. Taber estimated his amendment would save $600 million. Not to be outdone, Iowa's big Ben Jensen (R.) offered an amendment that would forbid filling more than 10% of the some 200,000 job vacancies which occur every year in federal agencies.

It was a day of wild parliamentary scuffles, and it lasted for almost nine hours. With Democrats bolting the Administration in droves, both amendments passed and the whole omnibus bill was finally voted out, with $2 billion eliminated from Harry Truman's original requests. The bill, at $28.9 billion, was sent on to the Senate.

For a Little, Nasty Vote. Meanwhile the Senate was busy chewing over the President's FEPC bill, which would impose penalties on employers who discriminate against their workers on account of race or religion. Faithful Majority Leader Scott Lucas had insisted on making it the next order of business. An amiable but determined Southern filibuster promptly developed, and Southerners jawed along comfortably until Illinois' Fair Dealing Paul Douglas began some needling in favor of the FEPC bill. Texas' Tom Connally exploded.

"I am surprised," said Connally irascibly, "that the learned Senator from Illinois, with all his academic background . . . for the sake of a few, little, nasty soiled votes--little, dirty votes all covered with slime and corruption--for the sake of a few of that kind of votes would advocate a bill such as this . . ."

But outside of Connally's stomach rumbling, the FEPC debate hardly made a noise. The Senate even laid it aside at one point, at the urging of Ohio's Taft, to give parliamentary privilege to one of the executive reorganization proposals which would automatically become law unless either the House or Senate killed it by May 23. The plan, not recommended by the Hoover Commission, but dear to the heart of Mr. Truman, would abolish the office of general counsel of the NLRB, whose present occupant, Robert N. Denham, annoys the President and union labor. Taft argued that the plan was just a devious trick partly to nullify the Taft-Hartley Act. The Senate went along with Taft, killed the President's measure by a 53-to-30 vote. It was another flat rebuff for the White House.

At week's end the Senate took up FEPC again with a leisurely movement of senatorial chins.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.