Imperial Valley press., 1942-01-12
CAPITAL TALKS
by
Peter
Edison

WASHINGTON, Jan. 70 - Bud
get estimates Ter running the gov
eminent OF the United States of
America in the fiscal year 1943,
which bcem July !. l942. are about
to be transmitted by the President
tC the new session Of Congress.
This budget Will be dandy. and
no focluG Il mlght reach as high
az $50 tlNion. Cr approximately
halt Of the estimated national in
cCmC The Ea.d-WorkIng Budget
Bureau Under quiet serious. econ
cmiSt Harold d. Smith, has been
aGdWs up this budget since Sept
-. Defense estimates have been
raised several times since then, and
the declaration of War has raised
the total again. For the last month
III particular the bureaus staff has
been punching its adding machines
both day and night And its enor-
nous sheets of ruled paper, con-
toured with yolumuS Of figures, are
the war maps for the battle OF
dollars which must be won before
The battle Of bullets can begin.
The 1912 budget was pretty size
able On Jan. 3, 1911. this budget
which the country Is supposed to be
operating on now, started out as
Sl7 billion baby, nearly Sll billion
e. which Was TO go for defense. BY
June the estimates for defense haG
been raised II moro than SIS bill
lion and the total was So billion.
The estimates 10Y 1913 so to $50
billion. for this new budget message
may give the ilrst indications OF
the real s.le OF the Victory Pro-
eram-the What-it-takes-to win ,he
war in terms Of JllliCn5 OF dollars.
TIME FOR DEBATE
When Congress gets this mes
sage, the solOnS will have six
months III which to argue about
il before il is due to go into eff
feet. For congressional action, the
tudget as a whole is divided into
IL sections covering Departments
/ of Agriculture, Interior and Labor
and federal security, War, Navy
! Treasury and POstoffice Depart
ments, State. Justice and Com
! merce Departments, independent
offices, District of Columbia leg
islative eSta bliShment, and defici-
encies. Corresponding suE-COm-
mittees from the appropriations
committees of first the House
and then the Senate go to work,
hold hearings by the hour and
take testimony by the hundreds
and thousands of pages. Recon-
mendatiOnS are finally made in
the form of appropriation bills
on which all thu congressman get
a chance to offer amendments
and to vote.
1t is ali this deliberatiyC proce-
! cure which cats up the six months
, between the time a budget message
is presented to Congress and the
time it is scheduled to go in effect.
All these appropriation bills must be
passed before midnight Of June 80,
,. .ecedirg the beginning Of the new
fiscal year for the appropriation to
be legal But if in the meantime
any department of the government
runs short OF operating funds
deficiency bill may be presented
and supplementary funds appropri-
aled TO keep the outfit going.
Taking these deficiency bills into
consideration. a budget doesn't
really mean much. Even if budge'ed
/ expenditure. for operating the GOV
eminent were estimated at only 525
| ciil.on, deficiency appropriations for
! almost unlimited amounts could be
( asked for. and in the case Of the War
and Navy Departments, secured.
/ The temper of Congress and the
ountry j. to give thc ,oTy.ea- ey-
| ..ythlLg IL, need and almC,' any
thing they want.
FIGHT on SONESSENTIiLS
The ONLY hope Of sarino anY
money on this budget Is o.. tho
non-defcnsc items Wni"h. 'a1I.h
they total more than S6 billion are
somewhat chicken e g q isn when
broken down INTO separate ;'ems q
mere $50 million here o. here,
and compared With the lar-cG war
Ccst totals of say S5G billion >car
! There are. nc@erthelcaS. .oW
quaint Individuals left Wip 'a,nss
about economy now and Z! n. and
tnCv haze Sharpcned Their panLI
knives 70 do little ~hit..a.p on
Wlat thcy consider eA..al,
MGn-dCGcnae spending