Congress' Week

The Senate staged its first full-dress debate of the session. Its subject: the budget, which Republicans in both houses were determined to cut.

The House had voted for a $6 billion slash. Senate Leader Bob Taft wanted a $4.5 billion cut. But young William Fife Knowland, the junior Senator from California, was determined to have $3 billion of the budget earmarked for reduction of the astronomical national debt, and that could not be done if the Senate approved the cut advocated by Ohio's Taft.

If Master Tactician Taft was annoyed, he controlled himself. Said he: "My own feeling is that tax reduction is more important than a reduction in the debt.. . ." Nevertheless, he agreed to go along for a $1 billion debt reduction.

On his back bench, Knowland waited respectfully until Taft had finished. Then he rose and very firmly pointed out that at the rate of $1 billion a year it would take 259 years to wipe out the debt.* He thought the Senators ought to do it faster than that. He was calm: before the session, he had taken the precaution of lining up maverick Republicans on his side. He also knew Democrats would be with him, if only to embarrass Taft. A trifle grimly, Colorado's Eugene Millikin suggested a $2 billion tax payment as a compromise. Taft retreated to the $2 billion figure.

But he reckoned without Knowland's determination. Disarmingly, Knowland argued that the Senate ought to be willing to reduce the debt by 1%--or $2.6 billion.

He had logic--and the votes--on his side. In the end even Taft capitulated. The Knowland amendment passed 82-to-0.

--

Governor Warren of California appointed Bill Knowland to the Senate in 1945 to pay off an old political debt to his influential father, Oakland Tribune Publisher Joseph R. Knowland. Young Knowland had had an unspectacular career as state assemblyman and senator, had done better as executive committee chairman of the Republican National Committee. He was an assistant publisher of the Tribune, the father of three, and an indefatigable joiner and organizer of charity drives. Drafted into the Army in 1942, he had risen to the rank of major.

Freshman Bill Knowland cut little ice in his first few months in the Senate, but he cut plenty in his 1946 senatorial campaign. To the astonishment of everybody, including California's Republicans, he soundly defeated the Democrats' popular Will Rogers Jr.

That, apparently, was the lift Bill Knowland needed. He sailed into Washington with the enthusiasm of a man determined to stay. He was an attentive, fair-minded and active member of the Atomic Energy Committee. He startled the party sages who expected him merely to sit tight, learn the ropes and follow the leaders. He had always had an unusual head for facts & figures. Now he had shown that he also had parliamentary skill.

* Senator Knowland was speaking, in part, rhetorically. The U.S. has not been debt-free since 1836.

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