Pensions & Pixies

When the Senate passed pensions for Congress by 42-10-24 (TIME, Feb. 2), the members didn't really mean it; they were thinking about a couple of other bills.

When a repealer came up last week, with an indignant citizenry looking on, 75 Senators rushed to get right; only five had the courage to plump for pensions again.

In the House, apparently nobody had been present when the pension bill passed without a recorded vote. Papers back home were flooded with honest-I-never-dunnit letters from Congressmen explaining that they had been ill, at the dentist's, out to lunch, writing a speech, carrying the burden of the war. This week the House would get a chance to vote on the repealer. The record would show that little brown pixies had sneaked into the Cham ber, passed pensions while Congress was away, or snoozing.

One Senator's tart observation: "Congress is like a burglar running with his swag, who gets caught at the edge of town, hands over the loot gracefully and says, 'Here it is, boys; I didn't think you could catch me.' "

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