A Whiff of November

By comparison with its heroically productive first session, the performance of the 89th Congress this year seems lackluster. Nonetheless, as Congressmen headed home last week for the Easter recess, they could reasonably claim that they had accomplished virtually all that they had set out to do. The session has set a "good normal record," as Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield assesses it. "It hasn't been sensational, like last year, but it has been solid."

Actually, Congress has kept a lot busier than it ever expected to be when it reconvened in January. After the tide of dramatic legislation so ardently enacted in 1965, there seemed little left to do but pass routine bills to fuel the new multitude of Great Society programs. But then the President's State of the Union message launched a whole new raft of legislative proposals. These, together with Congress' penchant for much-bally-hooed hearings such as its Viet Nam and auto safety inquiries, have kept the Hill ahum. One recent day the House alone held 33 committee and subcommittee meetings, more than on any previous day in memory.

Full Support. More significant, Congress has rallied full support for the U.S. commitment in Viet Nam. It overwhelmingly approved Lyndon Johnson's request for $13 billion in supplemental war appropriations, enacted L.B.J.'s proposal for a $1.2 billion increase in auto and telephone taxes to help finance the war. Speaker John McCormack succeeded in keeping House Democrats from wavering an inch on Administration war policy, while the Senate's so-called "peace liberals," led by William Fulbright, have proved largely ineffectual.

What most sets the current session apart is a heightened sense of politics. With elections coming up in November, Congressmen have grown understandably edgy not only about Viet Nam but also over inflation and the possibility of tax increases. Congressional Republicans, who wholeheartedly back the U.S. objectives in Viet Nam, have deliberately withheld criticism of the specifics of Administration policy--largely in hopes that they can thus zero in on Democratic divisions over the war as a campaign issue. The G.O.P. also regards itself as the natural political beneficiary of wage-price inflation, insisting for the record, if not by its votes, that the most potent cure would be a cut in domestic spending.

Restrained Frugality. Much of Congress' pre-recess energy was directed toward the hardening of party positions. The Senate's Republican minority last week mounted an impressive effort to defeat the proposed transfer of the Commerce Department's Community Relations Service to the Justice Department, fell short by a 42 to 32 vote that displayed unaccustomed G.O.P. solidarity. After barely failing to eliminate $12 million in rent-subsidy appropriations the week before, the Republican House leadership abandoned attempts at selective pruning, instead touted an across-the-board cut of 5% on all domestic appropriations. Unable to trim bills totaling $8.4 billion to finance several executive departments, House Republicans restrained their frugal impulses long enough to join unanimously in adding $109 million to a bill raising federal employees' salaries.

As Congressmen hurried home to gauge the mood of their constituencies, the edgiest of all were the 58 freshmen Democrats who were swept into office in the L.B.J. landslide, and now have to run on their own records. They would also have to take a stand on some highly debatable bills awaiting Congress when it reconvenes, notably to create a Cabinet-level Transportation Department, increase the minimum wage, set fair-labeling standards and inaugurate experimental programs for reconstructing U.S. cities. Regardless of hustings-aimed cries to hold down spending, most major Administration proposals seem likely to become law.

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