Evening star., 1941-02-07
BY GOULD LINCOLN.

Democratic members of the
House Foreign Affairs Commit
tee, meeting with Speaker Ray
burn and Majority Leader Nc
Cormack, determined today to
resist further amendment of the
lease-lend bill.
An effort will be made to act
finally on the bill today, Committee
Chairman Bloom said. However,
if it becomes apparent that no
action can be taken by 6 pm. or
soon thereafter, an adjournment
will be taken until tomorrow.
In its first action today, the House
adopted without opposition the
Bloom amendment declaring that
nothing in the bill should be con-
strued to mean that American mer-
chant ships can be sent into war
zones in violation of the Neutrality
Act of 1899 1t was approved yes
terday by the Democratic members
of the Foreign Affairs Committee.
The big battle. is was admitted,
will come over proposals to fix a
limit on the money which may be
used for the purposes of the bill.
Representative Wadsworth, Repub-
lican, of New York has prepared an
amendment which would limit all
such aid to s7O00,O00 900, including
new appropriations and the cost
of anything that may be taken out
of stock" now owned by the Gov
ernment.
There is a feeling among House
members that some limitation
should be placed in the bill. with
Democrats. as we'll as Republicans,
supporting the idea. Such an
amendment, it was urged, would
show to the country that Congress
still retains control of the Ma
tiOn's purse strings.
Not Needed, Leaders Say.
Administration leaders, however,
contend that no such ceiling" is
needed. They maintain the Presi-
dent will have to come to Congress
for all appropriations anyway; that
the pending bill is merely an au-
thorization. The supporters of
ceiling" insist that even an au-
thorization should be limited, as it
is in other measures enacted by
Congress.
Administration leaders professed
to be unconcerned over the adop-
ton yesterday of the Dirksen
amendment, which would give Con-
gress the authority by concurrent
resolution. to repeal any or all of
the powers contained in the bill 1t
is in the bill, they said, and they
are not worrying about it.
However. the insertion of the
amendment was accomplished when
the administration forces were nap
ping, and because about go of their
members had absented themselves
from the House. Orders have gone
out today for all members to be in
their places on the floor, or within
easy call, during the remainder of
the consideration Of the bill
The amendment, introduced by
Representative Dirksen, Republican,
of Illinois, is an amendment to a
committee amendment, which fixes
the life Of the proposed law, ending
it June 30, 1943. Because that is
the fact it is impossible now to re-
move it from the bill without killing
the whole committee amendment.
The leaders, however. may work out
some Dlan to aCcOmDliSh the elm
ination OF the Dirksen amendment,
or they may decide to let the
amendment go, believing the Senate
will remove it when it acts on the
measure.
In response to question at his
press conference today, President
Roosevelt said he had not talked
with any one on Capitol Hill about
the Dirksen amendment.
To an inquiry about what he
thought of the principal involved in
the amendment, Mr.. Roosevelt re-
piled he could not talk about all
the amendments offered to the leg
islation.
Without the DirkSen amendment,
in order to repeal any of the pow
erS granted in the bill, Congress
would have to pass a new bill. If it
was vetoed by the President, then
(See BRITISH AID, Page AID