The Washington times., 1939-01-05
RECOVERY JOB
is SHOULDERED
ON CONGRESS
Roosevelt Is Through.
carrying the Ball.
BY GEORGE R. HOLMES

by GEORGE II. HOLMES
u.N.SD President Roosevelt.
for the time being at least, is
through playing quarterback for
the New Deal Henceforth it is
going to be Congress, not the Ex-
ecutive, who carries the ball to-
ward the goal line of economic re-
covery.
Ample notice of this has been
given congressional leaders in the
conferences which preceded the
opening of Congress. In his an
nual message to Congress yeSter-
day on the state of the nation,
Mr.. Roosevelt confirmed it, and
he does it again today in his bud
get message to Congress.
UP TO CONGRESS
The word quarterback" is Mr..
RooSevelt's own. He coined it a
few years ago in describing his
own leadersip-if one play
doesn't work, switch to another,
the objective always benig to keep
the ball in motion toward the
goal of national recovery.
This year, for the first time
since 1888, Mr.. Roosevelt seems
content to let Congress carry the
ball. He is still suggesting the
plays, the strategy of the game,
but the actual operation he leaves
up to the legislative branch. There
are no must" bills on his pro
gram, as outlined in the messages
Of yesterday and of today.
On the contrary, Mr.. Roosevelt
went out of his way to conciliate
and appease his opposition on
Capitol Hill - opposition in his
own party as well as in the Re
publican party. Demand has given
way to suggestion at the outset of
the new Seventy-SiXth Congress,
which for the first time in six
years reflects real antagonism to
the New Deal.
REFORM PERIOD OVER
Mr. Roosevelt has treasured the
new Congress that the time of
bold and challenging reforms is
ended. Henceforth, he said in ef-
feet. the job is to consolidate the
gains already made. He put it
this way in his annual message:
I'VE have now passed the
period of internal conflict in
the launching of our program of
social reform. Our full energies
may now be released to invigor-
ate the processes of recovery in
order to preserve our reforms,
and to give every man and
woman who wants to work a real
job at living wage.."
At still another point, Mr.. Roose-
welt indicated the determination
of ultimate policy is up to the leg
islatiVe branch OF the Government,
rather than the White House.
Discussing the perennial ques-
ton Of a balanced budget, he de-
clared it was up to Congress to de-
termine whether there should be
a curtailment Of the activities of
Government, without which the
budget cannot be balanced.
PROBLEM STATED
eff" he said, "the Congress
decides to accept this point of
view (curtailment of Federal
activities) it will logically have
to reduce the present functions
or activities of government by
one-third.
''The Congress will have to
accept the responsibility for
such reductions; and the Con-
gress will have to determine
which activities are to be re-
duced."
And, again, speaking of slash
ing expenditures:
"The Congress alone has the
power to do all this, as it is the
appropriating branch Of the
Government"
This constitutes a rather far
cry from messages of the last six
years, which told Congress what
it should do and demanded that
it be done. Previous messages
can be scanned in vain for such
conciliatory phrases and acknoWl-
edgement that, in the final analy-
sis, Congress holds the purse
strings.
This tossing the ball back to
Congress is no suddenly conceived
strategy on the part Of Mr.. Roose-
welt. Rather, it is a deliberate,
well-thought out plan Of campaign,
designed to knock the props from
under an issue that the Repub-
ucans made lot of in the recent
campaign-the issue of executive
domination Of the legislative
branch.