Evening star., 1934-04-24
A Grant-Not a Loan,

During debate on the District bill
in the House last Thursday, Chairman
Buchanan of the House Appropria-
tions Committee explained that the
Federal contribution dump sum- had
not been reduced; that it is the same
in the pending bill as in the current
fiscal years., 700, ,000-but that from
this lump sum there has been de-
Quoted repayment to the P. w. A.
Of 70 per cent Of certain funds
allotted to the District last Summer.
In the House on Friday Chairman
Cannon of the subcommittee on Dis
trict appropriations inserted in the
Record a paragraph from the minutes
of the Public Works Commission,
inadvertently omitted during the pre-
ceding days debate. This paragraph
reads as follows:
Resolved further, That the admin
istrator shall notify this action to
the appropriate committees of the
Senate and House with a view to the
determination by Congress of the
appropriate share of the expense to
be borne by the District.
The Commissioners accepted the
sewer allotment as a grant, and not
as a loan. Under the law they
could not accept the money as loan.
Nothing was said to them by the
Public Works Administrator about the
sewer grant having been, anything
other than a Federal allotment. They
were not informed of the contents of
the minutes of the Public Works
Commission, and had they been so
informed it is extremely doubtful
that they would have spent a single
penny of the sewer grant pending
legislative consideration of the matter
by Congress.
But, if the P. W. A. decided to
refer the matter to the appropriate
committees" of Congress, what are
the appropriate committees? Ger
tainly not the Appropriations Commit
tees. for If any repayment by the Dis
trict Of these funds were contemplated
the terms of repayment, etc, would
surely be a matter for legislation. AS
a matter of fact, the record of the
House hearings on the appropriation
bill does not reveal any discussion Of
the possibility that the District would
be called on to repay what were un-
derstood at the time as grants to the
District. Moreover, the Appropria-
tions Committee in its report on the
bill said distinctly that the District
would not be required to repay the
sewer grant. as 1t was a Federal
allotment"
The Senate Subcommittee on Dis
trict Appropriations. which takes up
the bill tomorrow, will, OF course, con-
slider the matter of the sewer and
park aIotments, as they have now be-
come a part Of the District bill. Such
consideration would naturally involve
the question first, whether the money
was advanced as a loan or a grant. If,
In the face of all the evidence to the
contrary. it were found that the al
lotment represented loan, then the
appropriate place for considering the
terms under which the loan is to be
repaid would naturally be the legisla-
tive committees.
Surely Congress does not intend
in the first place, to create a debt to
the District out of an advance that
was understood and accepted as q
grant, and, to cap of such an aston
ishing act Of injustice, to compel the
District to repay the alleged loan
under terms that are far more harsh
than the terms Of any other P. w. A.
advances, repayment of which is
spread over the years in accordance
with agreements entered into before,
not after, the loan is granted.
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