Evening star., 1946-03-15
McCarran Pilots
Se|f-RuIe Bill
For Quick Action
Names Subcommittee
For Hearings on New,
LiberoIized Measure
By Don S. Worren

LiberoIized Measure
By Don S. Worren
Chairman McCarran of the Sen.
ate Judiciary Committee toda,
speeded action on his new bill call.
Ing for a self government charte,
Tor the District, which would in.
clude an elected council with taxine
and spending powers. He named 8
subcommittee to hold early hear
ings.
His measure, to create a charte,
commission and to submit it's rec
concentrations to formal referen.
dunn vote by District residents, prio,
to congressional action, was referred
TO his committee instead of to the
Senate District Committee which
has been bottling up his similar but
more restrictive home rule" bill.
Senator McCarran, Democrat, OF
Nelada took the chairmanship of
the subcommittee and named Sena-
tor O'Mahoney, Democrat, of
wyoming and Wherry, Republican
OF Nebraska as other members.
Meeting on Representation Set.
At the same time Senator Hatch.
democrat, of New Mexico, chairman
OF the Judiciary Subcommittee in
charge OF the -Capper reso-
lutlon proposing a constitutional
amendment to enable Congress to
grant general suffrage and repre-
Sentatlon in Congress to District
residents. tentatively scheduled an
executive meeting of his group for
10 am. next Tuesday to determine
on its next step in the battle to give
Washington full-f1edged' democratic
rights.
The Hatch Subcommittee had
recommended adoption of the rep
resehtation resolution, but after sew
eral lndecisive meetings the full
committee recommitted the measure
with instructions to reconsider it
along with proposals for giving rep
resentation to Alaska and Hawaii.
Senator McCarran left for future
determination at hearings Just who
should constitute the proposed city
charter commission, which he called
The Federal City Charter Commits
sion" He said he did this because
District citizens should be consulted
as to the membership.
Bring Praises From Finch.
His new bill and the deferring of
the Charter commission membership
brought high praise from Wilbur
Finch, president of the Federation
OF Citizens Association and tenn
porary chairman of the Central Suf-
frage Conference, who said he was
"elated and gratified" over the Nc
Carran plan. 1t presents a chal-
lenge to District residents, he said,
to keep it SnoW-balling. A
Inspiration for the new McCarran
bill came from the La Toilette
Monroney joint committee report on
modernization of Congress, one of
whose proposals was to grant self
rule" to the District to relieve Con-
gress of some of its time-consuming
and relatively petty" duties.
Since his earlier and similar
home rule" bill has been spiked by
the ODaniel Subcommittee of the
Senate District Committee, Sena-
tor McCarran had his new bill re-
ferred to the Judiciary Committee,
which he heads. This presented
good possibilities" the bill may be
sent to the Senate for action soon.
On this point an oblique, smiling
retort came today from Mississippi's
Senator Bilbo, who heads the Dis
trlct Committee. Making no COM
plant about the reference of the
bill to the McCarran group, he said
1T can't be made law until it passes
the Senate" He is expected to seek
to block the measure whenever it
comes up for Senate action.
Sees Impetus for Action.
Senator McCarran said he had in
troduced the new measure-much
broader than his original home
rule" bill-because he wished to
take "the fullest possible advantage
OF the impetus" given in the report
OF the La Toilette Monroney report.
This proposed a charter commits
oAoAA oiAA 2O1C1 Cl1ouiil Oll SCl1 Iult.
In a formal statement, Senator
McCarran added: THE bill which
1 have introduced is silent on the
question of who shall compose the
charter commission. It is my
thought that the views of the citi-
zens of <the District should guide
the selection. 1t is my purpose to
call an early hearing to obtain those
views.
IF the people of the District want
home rule-and I believe the sub
stantial majority of them do-they
can serve their cause by forgetting
past differences and uniting in sup
port OF the recommendation of the
Joint Committee on the Organiza-
tlon OF Congress, which the bill I
have just introduced would effectu-
ate"
The McCarran bill would create
as body corporate the proposed
charter commission, authorizing a |
Federal appropriation of up to $10,-
600 to finance its work,
Sets Deadline on Plan.
1t would be given a two-year life,
unless ended sooner by act of Con-
gress, and would be required to sub
NIT a city charter plan within one
year Of enactment of the bill.
When Congress authorized sub
mission OF its plan to a referendum
vote, it would be the duty of the
Charter Commission to see that ade-
quate arrangements were made to
accord the fullest opportunity" to
vote to all citizens of the District
On the question of the powers
OF the city council-which would |
name a city manageable McCar-
ran bill specifies that these would |
include "all the usual powers, func-
tions and duties of the governing
body of a municipality" including
the power to levy taxes and authoro
lty to govern expenditures of citv
funds.
Other Bill Limits Powers.
This is wide extension of his
earlier bill which gave to the pro-
posed city council-at the start |
at least-only those powers now
held by the Board of District Com
mlssioners and also specified that