Congress Returns

...All these predictions are, of course, predicated on the assumption that there are no drastic shifts in the international or domestic scene...

...Only tangible signs of a recession in this country or worse would alarm Congress into adopting the New Deal-tainted plans now worked out by the President's Council of Economic Advisers...

...It is doubtful that the liberal Republicans will succeed in changing the law to provide adequate safety guards for both management and unions and to prevent Federal injunctions in most strikes...

...Stassen's idea of a "sharp" reduction in foreign aid will by no means coincide with Congress's interpretation of that word...

...This does not mean, however, that the second session of Eisenhower's first Congress will decide the ultimate success or failure of his administration...

...All this means that a number of issues which the first session of this Congress left hanging will probably remain in suspense, although they may be tossed around a bit...

...There is good reason to believe that, from the viewpoint of foreign nations desperate for liberalized trade with the United States, this hot potato will be quite chilled by compromise before it is served...

...Few of them are inclined to take any undue risks...

...They fear that Mr...

...Officials of Harold E. Stassen's Foreign Operations Administration publicly profess to be prepared to cushion the shock, but privately they are most pessimistic...

...Never before has a President taken such pains to synchronize his legislative program with the Congressional leaders of his party before springing it on them in his State of the Union message...

...Lawrence river project and amendment of the McCarran-Walter Act will probably also be set aside...

...These are the impressions gained from strolling through the halls of the House and Senate Office Buildings, which have begun to fill up despite the holiday season...

...The 17-man Randall Commission on Foreign Economic Policy is hard at work behind closed doors over at the Health, Welfare and Education building...

...Housing, new postal rates, statehood for Hawaii, the St...

...Nor is there any real change of tariff policies in the cards...

...Brownell's indictment of the Truman Administration in connection with the Harry Dexter White case and Governor Dewey's more recent attack on the Democratic party in Hartford, Connecticut have left a bitter taste in the mouths of Democrats on Capitol Hill and strengthened their belligerent mood...

...In an election year, however, Congress will probably still find it too hot to handle at all...

...It is here that the label of "truly middle-of-the-road," which has been fixed on the President's legislative package in advance, seems to apply best...

...They rest squarely with the Executive...

...Not even Republican hints that no civil-rights legislation will be permitted to disturb the traditional alliance of conservative Republicans and deep-South Democrats are apt to weaken the Democratic determination to unite and oppose...

...The views of the American electorate are still fluid, and the fact that so many people voted for Eisenhower does not indicate where they stand on the tangible issues on which Congressmen are judged...

...CONGRESS RETURNS Despite Ike's conferences, nothing decisive is expected By W. V. Eckardt Washington, D. C. Unless there is some wholly unexpected crisis this spring, it would seem that the only thing apt to make the second session of the Eighty-third Congress memorable has already taken place...

...The Pentagon, too, will have to tighten its belt some more...

...Once again, our legislators will be in a hurry to get home to their voters, who, once again, can chop off any Congressional head which seems to stick out too far...

...But Congressmen predict that the new cuts will be more equitably distributed over the three services rather than having them all taken out on the Air Force...

...The tremendous appreciation of the fact that the President and his staff have so vigorously applied themselves to the problems Congress will face this spring is not confined to Republicans alone...

...The major and unavoidable business before Congress, on which the December spade work of the White House conferences will bear fruit in spring and summer, is the complex question of taxes and a balanced budget...

...Foremost among them are the proposed amendments to the Taft-Hartley Law...

...It has been reported that the President will outline these plans "in fairly specific terms," but they are likely to be more or less politely accepted as "eventuality" blueprints stuck away in the files unless and until the wolf actually starts howling at Congressional committee doors...

...The honeymoon, the Democratic Congressional Committee holds, is decidedly over...

...But even Republicans feel deep down in their hearts that, when it comes right down to hard facts of legislation, the results will be meager...

...But it doesn't take any indiscretions to guesstimate that, circumstances being what they are, the forthcoming session of Congress will produce only a minimum of the necessary and a maximum of the non-controversial...

...In an unusual outburst of discretion, none of the White House guests have talked after leaving the conferences...

...Despite the optimism which the White House conferences have generated, this can hardly be otherwise...

...Government spending must be further curtailed, a fact which does not bode well for foreign aid in its various forms and, to a lesser degree, for the national defense effort...

...Eisenhower's method of patiently taking his party's lawmakers into his confidence and, presumably, amending the requirements of his administration to their wishes, will undoubtedly be remembered, even if the immediate results are not...

...The same applies, even more strongly, to any new farm program...

...No one seems to doubt that social security benefits will be extended to some 10.5 million more people, that benefits will be liberalized, and that an increase of one-half of 1 per cent in the social security tax will be taken out of the payroll to put the entire system on an insurance-business basis...

...The President feels strongly about this, and his party, having burned itself badly on this one during the Eightieth Congress, will undoubtedly support him...

...There may be some hassle over the excise tax on products which haven't sold too well lately, and the present corporation-tax limit of 52 per cent may be dropped to 50 per cent, but otherwise our tax bill will probably remain the same after the scheduled personal-income-tax relief has been allowed to go into effect...

...Congressmen are painfully aware that the upheaval of the '52 Presidential election has not yet settled into any clear pattern...

...All this still leaves us an estimated $9 billion away from that dream of a balanced budget which has suddenly turned into such a nightmare for most administrators...

...This means, of course, that there can be no drastic reduction in taxes...

...Positive action can, however, be expected in the field of social security...

...It means only that the real decisions before this country in this uneasy twilight between peace and atomic war are actually still outside of Congress...

...Although some Senators have been heard to remark that if Secretary of the Treasury George M. Humphrey wants his increase of the national debt ceiling to $290 billion, he'll damned well have to beg for it on his hands and knees, he'll get it in the end...

...It is trying to translate the slogan "trade, not aid" into a tangible legislative proposal which can be put before Congress...

...Conservative opposition, particularly in the House, is so strong that some observers feel Secretary of Labor James P. Mitchell's proposals will not even get through the committees concerned...

...It may be that the realization is at last dawning that Congress must help, not hinder the President in his staggering task...

...With a precarious majority of four in the House and minus one in the Senate, the Republican tune must thus be simple indeed to sound reasonably harmonious...

...In addition, anything more than a "safe," non-controversial program of essential legislation is bound to shipwreck on the rocks of partisanship...

...President Eisenhower's exhaustive (and, no doubt, exhausting) White House conferences, which lasted ten hours each for three days straight, are in marked contrast to the manner in which other Presidents, notably Franklin D. Roosevelt, have at times tossed legislation before Congress for enactment...

...Whatever Secretary of Agriculture Ezra T. Benson might finally propose, there is little chance, considering the strength of the farm bloc, that the status quo of farm price supports at 90 per cent of parity will be changed...

...Too many members of Congress have seen the deceptive facade of wealth in Europe and some Asian countries this summer to let themselves be talked into voting anything but token amounts for military, economic or technical assistance to our allies...