Midterm: A "Gentleman's C"

As it adjourns, Congress barely merits a passing grade

When the 96th Congress was gaveled into session last January, members talked solemnly about sensing a new mood of conservatism across the land, about voters demanding less spending, less legislation, less Government. "Go slow," warned the electorate, and Congress did just that. The mood lingered. When new crises forced new problems on Congress, progress remained slow. As they adjourned for the year-end holidays, the Senators and Representatives left unresolved some pressing national issues that they will have to confront when they reconvene on Jan. 22.

The crisis that shaped the direction of this Congress was the turmoil in Iran. The revolution reduced world oil supplies and led to the gas shortages of early summer. These in turn brought forth a surge of congressional activity on the patchwork quilt of energy bills submitted by President Carter in the spring. But then followed a textbook example of what ails Washington. The Carter energy program, refined in July, still needed work. The White House leadership was uncertain, and as the gas lines shortened, the public began sending out confusing signals about what it wanted done. The lawmakers began to hesitate and reconsider. Complained House Speaker Tip O'Neill: "The Congress blows like the wind blows the reeds."

Congress failed notably to reduce the use of gasoline. It did pass a stand-by rationing plan, but one that was too complex and hedged to work promptly and effectively. In addition, Congress warned the White House that it would defeat any proposal for a major tax on the sale of gasoline. By adjournment, both Houses managed to pass separate versions of bills that authorized funds for developing synthetic fuels; organized an Energy Mobilization Board empowered to speed the construction of projects deemed vital to the nation's energy needs; and imposed a "windfall" profits tax on the oil companies. Congressional leaders expect the final bills to be worked out and approved in February, nearly a year after Carter's program was presented for consideration.

The Iranian crisis also helped delay the vote on the most important issue before the U.S. Senate: the SALT II accord. With passage already in doubt, treaty supporters feared that the embassy takeover would strengthen SALT opponents, who argued against limiting U.S. power. Thus the vote was postponed until early in 1980, when Senate Majority Leader Robert Byrd says it will receive "top priority." Says Byrd: "I have no reluctance whatsoever to call up SALT, even though I don't know where all the votes are." By the most optimistic Senate head count, the treaty remains at least half a dozen votes short of approval, and the Afghanistan crisis may cause more problems for passage.

Much of what Congress did pass into law contradicts the "less is more" approach espoused early in the year. Lobbied heavily by the National Education Association, Congress established a separate Department of Education. Both Houses gave the go-ahead to the development of a prototype of the MX missile, a program that if fully carried out would cost an estimated $30 billion. Just before its Christmas adjournment, Congress agreed to guarantee $1.5 billion in loans to the flat-tired Chrysler Corp., by far the largest rescue effort in the country's history. Congress failed to pass any substantive anti-inflation measures, rejected Carter's plan to curb rising hospital costs and showed little enthusiasm for the consumer and environmental legislation that was so popular in past sessions.

How does the Carter White House judge last year's performance on the Hill? "That's like asking a man to critique his wife," said one of the President's top aides. "The question is always, 'Compared with what?' Compared one way, what they did, the Congress made pretty outstanding progress this past session. Compared another way, what they should have done, it was pretty poor." By most measures, that assessment would add up to a "gentleman's C" grade--at best.

Congress will soon get another chance. The Administration's budget for fiscal 1981 (to take effect Oct. 1,1980) will be submitted to Congress late this month. Still being assembled last week, the budget is expected to total about $617 billion, up $74 billion from fiscal 1980. And while Carter had vowed during the 1976 campaign that he would present a balanced budget by 1980, the White House predicts a deficit of about $ 15 billion, roughly half of the anticipated 1980 shortfall.

That was no mean feat, considering the budget's built-in escalators. Those now receiving Social Security payments, for example, will automatically get about $15 billion next year. Carter has also authorized a 5% real increase in the Pentagon's budget, hiking military spending from $138 billion to $157 billion.

The President avoided a bigger deficit by trimming such programs as subsidized housing and by holding the line against boosts for nearly every Government agency and office, except the Pentagon. More important, the President has assiduously abstained from introducing any expensive new projects. One exception: a youth employment plan that will cost an estimated $6 billion.

This austerity suits Congress fine. Says Robert Giaimo, chairman of the House Committee on the Budget: "It's an election year and we all hear the national cry out there to keep spending down. I think Congress is even less in the mood for new spending than it was last year, when support was almost nil."

But if a major recession hits, all pledges on tight spending are off. Speaker O'Neill, an old-line liberal, plans to press for tax cuts and whatever it would take to stimulate the economy. Says he: "We're ready to go with programs if recession hits." Even Giaimo admits the Carter budget would not last under recession battle conditions. "If the economy were to go to hell," says Giaimo, "the whole thing would be a new ball game."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.