Revival of Survival

Nothing had seemed deader than the federal fallout-shelter program, contaminated by skepticism, cynicism and apathy. A House Armed Services subcommittee had refused even to hold hearings on the matter since 1955. When members finally did agree last May to listen to some testimony about a proposed $190.6 million shelter program, they were bored and antagonistic.

"They would rather think of other things," said Assistant Secretary of Defense for Civil Defense Steuart L. Pittman at the time. But eight weeks of hearings and 108 witnesses changed all that. Again and again, Defense Department and civil defense officials emphasized the idea that "reasonable protection" from fallout could save 25 million to 65 million Americans in a nuclear assault. The shelter program, said Pittman, "is no panacea. It brings no security, only a better chance to survive." And, he added, "All objective and detailed studies of the impact of nuclear war conclude that there will be a significant measure of survival and that recuperation would take place."

In August, Subcommittee Chairman F. Edward Hebert of Louisiana announced with surprise that his group had "completely reversed their opinions held at the beginning of the hearings." Said Hebert: "I cannot recall a similar experience in my 23 years of Congress." The bill got more strong support from Armed Services Chairman Carl Vinson of Georgia and House Speaker John McCormack. Last week it passed the House by a voice vote and was sent to the Senate.

The bill requires that a shelter provide radiation protection for at least 50 people (with 10 sq. ft. per person); thus it does not apply to home shelters. It allocates $175 million to aid state and local governments, schools, hospitals and other nonprofit institutions to build shelters, earmarks another $15.6 million to construct shelters in federal buildings. Said Hebert about his pro-shelter switch: "I do not know whether it will save a single life, but I am not going to play God and make a determination upon the future life or death of any American."

In other action, Congress:

> Approved, in the Senate Appropriations Committee, a defense appropriations bill totaling $47,371,000,000. This was $289 million more than the full House voted last June, but still $1.6 billion less than the Kennedy Administration had requested, and almost $1 billion less than last year's defense budget. In upping House-approved totals, the Senate committee added $60 million for developing a mobile ballistic missile to be fired from a tracked vehicle, $6.7 million for the National Guard, $23 million for military communications satellites. The Senate bill included $125 million for research on the RS-70 bomber and Dyna-Soar projects, and $322 million for test-model work on the TFX fighter. It may come up for a Senate vote this week.

> Killed, for at least this session, the medicare bill that President Kennedy at one time described as among the two or three top-priority legislative items of 1963. House Ways and Means Chairman Wilbur Mills of Arkansas announced that his committee would not report out the legislation. It would have set up a plan for providing medical care to the aged through the social security system.

> Passed, in the House, and moved on to the Senate a fiveyear, $25 million program to match state expenditures providing nursing-home care for aged and chronically ill war veterans.

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