Stone Wall

"Why keep bumping into a stone wall? asked New Mexico's Clinton P. Anderson of fellow Senate Democrats one afternoon last week. Clint Anderson's stone wall was Republican President Dwight Eisenhower, whose strong position on issues back home loomed higher and higher, even while Ike himself was off in Europe scoring a major breakthrough on foreign policy. Not since Franklin Roosevelt's heady first term had a U.S. President brought his will to bear on Congress with such effective force, and never before had a President so effectively controlled an opposition Congress. The labor reform bill that passed both houses last week (see below) would have been a far weaker measure, all partisans admitted, but for the President's well-timed radio-and-television intervention. But his greatest battle was for fiscal stability, and his stand against free-handed spending last week withstood the nearly irresistible force of pork-barrel politics. Whipped. The clash: an all-out drive by House Speaker Sam Rayburn and his big Democratic majority to override the President's veto of the public-works appropriation bill, a $1.2 billion barrel full of rivers-and-harbors projects and other fat goodies dear to politicians of both parties. Rayburn whipped all but six Democrats into a rare moment of unity, but failed by one vote to override. Two days later, still seething over the defeat of their House colleagues, Senate Democrats sharply attacked when an Eisenhower courier flew back from Europe with a veto for the second fat housing bill they have passed this year. Exploiting the peak moment of indignation, crafty Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson called for an immediate vote to override. But his forces fell short by five votes, too weak again to crash the veto wall. Rocked.

Accepting the fact that they could not beat down a popular President, Democratic leaders reluctantly gave ground.

Despite a they-shall-not-pass stand by Rayburn. the House last week agreed to finance the highway program by adding 1-c- per gallon (Ike asked 1 1/2-c-) to the federal motor-fuel excise.

And going along part way after another long balk, the House voted to take off the 3.26% ceiling on savings-bond interest rates. But Congress' failure to lift the interest ceilings on other long-range U.S. Treasury bonds, the White House hinted, might call for a special session this fall. The President's surprisingly successful stand on legislative matters has thoroughly rocked Democratic leaders accustomed to using their huge majorities for give-a-little-take-a-lot compromises with the White House.

Scheduling fast action on minimum programs, scaled down drastically from bold forecasts at the beginning of the 86th Congress, the leaders decided to call it -quits, adjourn this week if possible. Muttered one thoughtful Demo cratic Senator: "We've been gutted, absolutely gutted."

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