Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-05-01
Where Responsibility Lies.

Senator William e. Borah has rushed
to the defense Of Congress. He diSlikes
the suggestion, coming from the Pres
ident, that the national legislature is
responsible for constantly rising ex-
penditures Of public funds. He charges
that the executive departments of the
Government are striving constantly to
have the appropriations enlarged, and
that Congress has actually reduced the
budget recommendations of the admin
istration by many millions of dollars.
The Idaho Senator, indeed, wakes in
dignant. The Congress. he insists, shall
suffer wrong no more.
But here is the testimony of Repre-
sentative Will Wood of Indiana, chair
man for many years of the House APP
preparations Committee, which gives a
very different picture of the situation
from that presented by Senator Borah.
Mr. Wood says that the Borah state
ment does not present the real vice of
the growth of Government expenditures.
That vice, Mr.. Wood insists, is to be
found in the authorization bills passed
by Congress over the opposition, in
many cases, of the Executive. 1t is
found also, Mr.. Wood contends, in the
legislation which calls for expenditures
in excess of those recommended by the
Executive.
Mr.. Wood should and does know what
he is talking about. He Is in a position
to know. He is chairman of the COM
mittee in which all appropriation bills
originate. 1t is his committee which
has pared, and pared again, the items
Of the budget. But Mr.. Wood has seen
Congress go ahead, despite warnings
from its own members as well as from
the Executive, with authorizations of
expenditure for new projects, some of
them running into hundreds Of millions
of dollars. After those authorizations
are made by Congress, it becomes neces-
sary for the Executive to have the
Budget Bureau submit estimates of
appropriations to cover those author
izations. The Executives is helpless to
do otherwise.
Mr.. Woods statement is couched in
mild language. Nevertheless he calls
attention to Senator Borah's own
support Of projects opposed by the adj
ministration in the last session of Con-
gress which would have added hum
dreds of millions of dollars to the
Governments expenditures If Congress
had followed the lead of Mr. Borah.
Among them were the Muscle Shoals
bill. which would have called for an
outlay of 10000 900 and at the same
time would have brought the Federal
Government further into the bu-
reaucracy Of which Mr.. Borah ccm-
plains bitterly. Senator Borah, he
points out, also supported the export
debenture for farm products which
would have rolled up another $780,
900 900 OF Government expenditure.
Nor did Mr.. Wood overlook the pas
sage of the soldiers bonus loan bill by
the last Congress which has increased
the outlay by the Government by about
81 900 100000 This measure was vetoed
by President Hoover and Congress
promptly passed the measure over the
veto. Senator Borah, as Mr.. Wood
says, voted against the passage Of this
bill. But that fact does not relieve
Congress Of responsibility in the pas
sage of this legislation.
And the final words of the statement
Issued by Mr.. Wood in reply TO Senator
Borah are perhaps more significant
than all the rest. Everybody knows"
he says, that every dollar of Federal
money expended must first be author
tied by Congress"
The fact of the matter is that Con-
gress is under great pressure from
groups Of constituents to authorize ap-
preparations for many causes. It has
yielded constantly TO this pressure. On
the other hand federal departments
have been prone to get from the federal
treasury as large appropriations as they
can squeeze out. 1t is time halt was
called on both sides.
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