SAID THE PRESIDENT TO CONGRESS

Because the first session of the 89th Congress gave Lyndon Johnson so much, most congressional observers expected him to request a minimum amount of domestic legislation in his State of the Union message. They got quite a surprise. Herewith seven areas in which the President asked for legislation.

TAXATION

"Because of increased military expenditure," the President asked Congress to "temporarily restore" excise-tax cuts on cars (which had dropped from 7% to 6%) and telephone service (down from 10% to 3%). Since the reductions had come into effect only twelve days before his speech, quick congressional approval of the request would make the excise reductions the briefest tax cut in memory. Restoring those taxes would add about $1.2 billion for Johnson's record $112.8 billion budget next year. Beyond that, the President recommended a razzle-dazzle redesign of revenue-collection mechanics that would put an extra $3.7 billion at the Government's disposal next year. The new pay-as-you-go plan would not actually raise taxes, instead would increase the monthly amounts withheld from high-salary paychecks and speed up tax payments from large corporations.

LABOR

The President astonished labor by opting for new federal laws "to deal with strikes which threaten irreparable damage to the national interest," a move clearly encouraged by the New York transit strike. Almost certainly that proposal will mean revisions in the Taft-Hartley Act, which has no teeth when it comes to dealing with walkouts by public employees, and gives the Government no legal leverage to stop a national strike once a mandatory 80-day cooling-off period has expired. On the other hand, Johnson promised to try again for repeal of Tart-Hartley's Section 14b, the celebrated "right-to-work" clause that allows states to outlaw union shops. He also asked Congress to "improve unemployment insurance" and to increase the minimum hourly wage, probably from $1.25 to around $1.50--still well below the $1.75 wage approved last year by the House Education and Labor Committee.

CIVIL RIGHTS

After the 1965 voting-rights bill, even Negro leaders did not expect the President to offer another sweeping civil rights package--but he did. Most controversial of his measures (and certain to run into heavy congressional opposition) was his demand for laws "resting on the fullest constitutional authority of the Federal Government" to prohibit discrimination in housing sales or rentals. Although Johnson spelled out no details, his proposal is much broader than the presidential executive order signed by John Kennedy in 1962, which outlawed discrimination in housing financed by the Federal Housing Authority or the Veterans Administration. It would likely be based on the U.S. Constitution's interstate commerce clause and could easily cover the vast majority of the nation's banks and private lending agencies, nearly all of which operate interstate. The President will also press for tough federal laws against those who "murder, attack or intimidate" rights workers. He repeated his promise, made in November, to "establish unavoidable requirements for nondiscriminatory jury selection" in the South.

POLITICS

The President's most surprising, if scarcely most meaningful, proposal was his foursquare declaration in favor of a four-year term for Representatives. The present two-year term, said Johnson, caused Congressmen to "divert enormous energies to an almost constant process of campaigning." Although House members met his recommendations with a rousing cheer, there will be much debate about it in weeks to come. For one thing, Johnson's plan would bring all 435 House members up for election in the same year as the President--thus effectively canceling off-year judgments by the voters, who have frequently displayed discontentment with presidential policies by electing an opposition-party Congress. Anyway, final acceptance of the plan would take a long time: the longer terms would not start until after 1972, and would require a constitutional amendment needing two-thirds passage in both houses of Congress and ratification by three-fourths of the states. While talking politics, Johnson also asked for federal laws to install "strong teeth and severe penalties" in the uncertain regulations applied by most states to get honest disclosures about campaign contributions. To encourage small contributions to candidates, he will move to make donations to political parties taxexempt.

GOVERNMENT

Johnson asked for a twelfth Cabinet-level agency: a Department of Transportation. The new department, he said, could bring "efficiency and frugality" to the 35 different U.S. agencies that spend $5 billion a year working on various facets of travel and transportation. A possible choice to head it: Alan S. Boyd, now Commerce Under Secretary for Transportation. Johnson reiterated his plea for home rule in the District of Columbia, a measure that was beaten in the House last year, promised to "streamline" the Executive branch and "restructure" civil service in the top grades. And he proposed a "commission of the most distinguished scholars and men of public affairs" to look into the relations between "city, state, nation, and the citizens themselves" with an eye toward building "creative federalism"--a rather confusing label that sounds to many people as if it means more power for the Federal Government when it actually means the opposite.

NATIONAL WELFARE

This was a grab bag within a grab bag. Among other things, the President called for 1) a Highway Safety Act to cut down on traffic deaths, 2) a plan to "rebuild entire sections and neighborhoods" in some U.S. cities as well as "stimulate and reward planning for the growth of entire metropolitan areas," 3) an end to pollution of rivers, 4) an attack on "crime and lawlessness" through a federal program to "modernize and strengthen local police forces," 5) a bill requiring honest labels on packages, 6) a program demanding that all interest and credit charges be fully revealed by lenders to unsuspecting borrowers, 7) a revival of an Administration bill, beaten last session, in which a traveling Teachers Corps would be sent to impoverished U.S. districts, and 8) congressional reconsideration of a bill offering federal money for the ailing and the aged to help pay their home rentals.

FOREIGN POLICY

Although he gave few details, the President spoke glowingly of a "new and daring direction" for U.S. foreign aid that would include "a worldwide attack on the problems of hunger and disease and ignorance," specifically through the programs carrying unmistakable Johnson-brand names--the International Education Act and the International Health Act. The President estimated that it would cost $1 billion next year to internationalize the Great Society. Beyond that, he spoke strongly in favor of cutting tariff barriers and of expanding U.S. trade with Communist countries in Europe--even though such a stand will certainly meet powerful opposition in a war-conscious Congress.

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