How to Win Friends

The Voice of America just couldn't get on the right wave length to catch the ear of Congress. It had high hopes that the Senate Appropriations Committee would restore what its sister committee in the House had taken away: 90% of the $97.5 million the Voice had asked to build new stations for world-wide broadcasts. Instead the Senate committee last week voted to uphold the cut. Like their colleagues in the House, the Senators were not satisfied with the accounting for money already spent, the overall quality of the Voice's operation, and the way the Voice's case had been presented by its head, Assistant Secretary of State Ed Barrett.

The Senate also:

P: Passed unanimously and sent to the House, ex-Marine Paul H. Douglas' bill to increase the Marine Corps from 200,000 to 400,000 men (four combat divisions with supporting air wings). Under the new bill, the Marine Corps commandant would sit on the Joint Chiefs of Staff as a consultant, but would have no vote.

P: Passed unanimously a resolution introduced by Connecticut's Democratic Senator Brien McMahon to reaffirm "the historic and abiding friendship of the American people for all other peoples, including the peoples of the Soviet Union . . . The American people desire neither war with the Soviet Union nor the terrible consequences of such a war, and welcome all honorable efforts to compose the differences between them and the Soviet Government."

The House:

P: Postponed a vote on the bill to send wheat to famine-threatened India. Reason: congressional wrath at Prime Minister Nehru's statement that no strings must be attached; he would not barter away India's "self-respect or freedom of action even for something we need so badly." The House was mad because it hadn't attached any strings.

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