Evening star., 1947-06-11


conservative side and particularly a
gain among independent voters,
sending the popularity curve OF
President Truman above any pre-
vious levels this year. Mr.. Truman
could argue, either in letting the
bill become law or by signing 1t,
that apparently the measure has
substantial support within both
parties and he could note that a.
ma jority of the Democrats OF the
House voted for the measure when
1t came back from the Joint Con-
ference Committee.
2. Effect of a veto of labor bill:
Enthusiastic support from labor
union leaders and a promise of con-
siderable help in the 1948 presiden-
tial campaign when presumably Mr..
Truman will be candidate to sue
ceed himself; loss of certain indie
pendent voters and also trend on
the part Of conservative Democratic
voters to look to the Republican
Party In 1948.
Argument on Tax Bill.
g. Effect of signing of the tax bill
or letting it become law without sig
nature will be the same: An in
crease in popularity for the Presi-
dent with taxpayers, large and small.
His argument could be that Con-
gress has primary responsibility for
the raising Of revenue and for i'm
posing tax rates. Comparatively
little or no loss of votes Is entailed
by presidential approval of the tax
bill.
4. Effect Of a veto of the tax bill:
Loss of many Independent votes and
loss also of many conservatives In
the Democratic party who will feel
that the President has committed
himself to a resumption of New Deal
spending and high budgets. An issue
will be made of the infationary sig
nificance of the Presidents attitude.
No corresponding gain among rad
icals or independents is foreseen to
Offset the loss of votes and disap-
pointment in both the Republican
and Democratic parties over the
failure of the tax bill to become law.
For in this there are not enough
votes to override veto. Hence, un-
like the case of the labor BILL a
Presidential veto will mean the kill
ing of tax-reduction legislation this
year.
To summarize: Mr.. Truman will
lose considerable political support by
vetoing both the labor and tax
reduction bills. His loss will not be
as much If he signs the tax bill and
vetoes the labor bill because the net
effect would be that both bills
would, in the end, become law and
the public would have the benefits
of both.
Political Consignments.
The impression in the last few
days is that a veto of the tax bill
is certain and that while there are
advisers who want the President to
sign the labor bill he will, in the
final analysis, realize that the mea-
sure is going to become law any
way no matter what he does. He is
expected to retain labor-union sup
port by a veto.
There are other political conse-
Quences to the Nation, however,
which win arise from a Presidential
veto.of both labor and tax-reduction
bills. The Republican majority will
go to the country with the charge
that Mr.. Truman has adopted the
unsound fiscal policies of the New
Deal with more spending and more
Government extravaganza and that
tion is to elect a Republican Presi-
dent. Unfortunately for Mr.. Tru-
man, while he may argue that any
surplus should be credited to debt
reduction, neither he nor his associ-
ates have helped to reduce the ma
tional budget this year. The Repub-
licans. on the other hand, have made
sizable cut in the budget. If the
, surplus attributable to this is used
wholly for debt reduction, it will not
inure to Mr.. Truman's political
advantage but to the Republicans.
Likewise if it had not been for the
stimulating spur of tax reduction as
an objective there would have been
little budget cutting at this session
of Congress.
The most important political con-
sequence of veto of the tax bill will
be a declaration of war by the Re-
publicans on President Truman for
refusing to accept majority will on
tax measures.
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