The Washington times., 1939-01-04
CONGRESS SET
FOR ROLE AS
NATIONS BOSS
Legislators Indicate
Plans to Rule
By THEODORE HUNTLEY

BY THEODORE HUNTLEY
Congress will be the boss"
Though Cactus Jack Garner
still speaks of the man in the
White House as The Boss" he
I'D plenty of other people know
t the power which makes the
ais of government go round
loved in the last six months
1900 Pennsylvania Ave to
.vcl Hill.
that's the way things shape up
itically as the Seventy-sixth
Congress meets. It will listen at
tentively to what President Roose-
welt has to say. It's leaders will
trot down to the White House,
shake his hand and agree that
he's fine fellow and a great
President.
BUT CONGRESS!
BUT-And that is the answer!
At that point the butts" come in.
For this Congress, as forecast "a
hours after the November elec-
t1on returns came in-and even
earlier. when State after State re-
FUSED to go along with the PreSi
dent in his effort to purge Sena.
tors who failed to back the Re
organization and Supreme Court
proposals. definitely a Yes
BUT" Congress.
The only change in the original
forecast is that the BUT" goes
in caps instead of lower case type
as the legislators return to their
jobs.
No collection of Cheshire cats.
II there ever was one, ever wore
a choicer collection of mi lie S
than those worn this week by the
unpurged purgees. Boy, are they
whetting their knives And even
the New Dealers who for one rea.
son or another followed the Presi-
dent through thick and thin for
the first six years of his reign,
are talking heresies like balanced
budgets and taking politics out of
relief.
BUDGET PROBLEM
The budget isn't going to be bal
anced yet. That's certain enough
even before Congress gets its
teeth into the first appropriation
bill or tackles the tax question.
But before this Congress dies it's
going to be more nearly balanced,
at a rough guess, than it has been
for several years.
President Roosevelt's ideas on
reorganization and national de-
tense were awaited at the Capitol
with special interest. Congress
already knows what it is going to
do about reorganiZation-it's 60
ing to write the bill, if there is
one. and the President can take
1t on Congress terms or not at all.
COMPTROLLER-GENERAL
And Congress terms mean an
independent comptroller general
and an independent land probably
bi-partisan) Civil Service Commis-
sion, as at present, among other
things.
Also Senator Harry Byrd, Of
Virginia, says Smilingly that "af-
firmative action" by Congress will
have to be written into the bill as
a condition Of consultations or
administrative shifts desired by
the President, before he will ap-
prove any reorganization program.
They have heard at the Capitol
that the President sent an ennis
sary to a certain friendly politician
during the congressional vacation,
to ask what kind of a reorganiza-
ton bill Congress would be willing
to pass when it returned to Wash
ington.
WPA POLITICS
There's a whale of a fight COM
ing on relief, too-and don't think
Congress means maybe. They'll
continue to dish out billions for
works programs Of one kind or
another, but it can be guessed
even as the Presidents message Is
read and analyzed that the Con-
sresSional controls will be a lot
tighter than they have been.
Nor has anyone arisen as yet to
question the soundness Of the rec
concentrations of the Sheppard
campaign committee, after peer
ing into WPA politics in Ken
lucky, Tennessee and Pennsyl-
Vania-and smelling it.
On national defense all Con-
eress wants to know is what the
generals and the admirals think
we ought to have to make the
country and its possessions safe
against any attack by anyone
They'll get It. The Presidents
recommendations will have to
.tanI +ha tnst of Scr,ItiY1v. That's