Evening star., 1935-06-04
The District Loses Again.

The issue between House and Senate
on the District bill is the amount
Of the lump sum. When the Senate
conferees yield on that issue, other
gains that might be credited to them
through compromise are negligible
That is the case with reference to
the agreement just reached between
House and Senate conferees on the
1886 District bill. While legislative
differences between the two houses
are usually reconciled through COM
promise, there was no compromise on
the lump sum. When the Senate con-
ferees gave in-under duress Of threats
that the lump sum would be either
S5,700,000 or nothing-most of the
increases previously voted by the Sem
ate went by the board. For any
major increases in the District bill
are dependent on higher lump sum.
Why can there be no compromise
on the lump sum? Why must the
illogically low and very unfair amount
arbitrarily set by the House prevail,
when the Senate annually indicates
its belief that the equitable and prac-
tical demands of financing this city's
needs justify a greater amount? Is
the Senate willing to surrender its
prerogatives as a participant in leg
islation for the District when 1t comes
to voting the Federal contribution?
In the thirteen appropriation bills
for the District since and including
1925 the Senate has yielded to the
House under stress of threats of one
sort or another six times. In only
three cases has the lump-sum issue
been resolved for one year by the
process OF compromise. In other cases
there has been no contest.
What the Senates surrender on the
lump sum issue means this year can
be Judged by the nature of the items
lost in the bill. The Senate's increase
of the lump sum from s5,700000 to
s8,3l7,5O0 provided additional revenue
of s2,e17,5o0, and to this amount the
Senate added about s830,00o from the
prospective yield of local taxation.
enabling the bill to carry funds for
purchase of sites and beginning con-
struction Of thirteen new schools; to
add 14l men to the police force; to
provide additional facilities at the
tuberculosis and at Gallinger Hos
pitals, more liberal allowance for public
health and to permit certain necessary
expenditures from the gasoline tax
fund. When the lump sum was re-
duced in conference to the previous
figures. most of these items were auto
matically prohibited. There is no
money to pay for them. Instead Of
thirteen new school items, the bill will
provide for only three. Instead Of l4l
new patrolmen, the bill provides for
only thirty-fve. While some of the Sem
ate's increases are compromised, most
of them are lost entirely. And with
the lump sum figure remaining at
$500, 900, the financing of even the
bill which has been agreed upon will
raise serious question at the District
Building as to the source of the
necessary revenue.
The bill agreed upon is in amount
essentially the Budget Bureau pro-
posal. The Budget Bureau estimates
provided for little beyond mainte-
nance. Needed developments and i'm
provements are curtailed, and unmet
needs Of the District are accumulating
far beyond the resources Of the COM
munity ever to meet them on the
basis Of existing unsatisfactory and
wholly unreasonable appropriations
practice.