Evening star., 1948-05-16
Congress 10 GET
Home Rule, Tax
Bill Procedure
3-Hour Debute Limit
Sought on AuchineIoss
Measure in House
By Don S. Worren

By Don S. Worren
Decisions are expected on Capito
Hill this week that will chart ths
course for the city's revenue ane
home rule measures.
The House Rules Committee is tt
meet in executive session tomorrow
to act on the Auchincloss bill ca1l-
ing for an elected and reorganizeo
city government. Majority member.
of the House District Committee are
seeking a rule permitting three
hours general debate in the House
with points of order barred but
leaving the measure open to amend.
ment.
Sponsors Of the bill expressed con-
f1dence yesterday that the bill woulo
be sent to the House under rule!
that would prevent fllibusters.
Conference Set on Sales Tax.
On the financial issues revolving
around the separate budget and rev.
enue bills, a conference is sched-
uled early this week, possibly to.
morrow, by the joint fiscal subcom-
mittees of the House and Senate
District Committees.
The objective is to determine
whether a sales tax should be rec
commended now as the solution tt
the Districts impending big short
age of revenues.
Leading roles in this issue are te
be taken by Chairman Bates Of
the House wing of the joint fsca
group, who is seeking a means Of
avoiding any sales levy. and Chair.
man Cain of the Senate unit, who
has taken stand that sales tax
is unavoidable if the District is tc
meet its prospective budget deficits
The action of the joint subcom.
mittees may be influenced to ar
important degree by the findings OF
the Board of Trade In its survey OF
school buildings and needs for fu-
ture new school construction.
Trade Board to Act.
Oficials of the Board of Trade
are expected to act finally on the
survey data tomorrow. Some de-
tails of the survey already are being
studied by Chairman Bates and
Senator Dworshak, Republican, o1
Idaho, who heads the Senate Ap-
propriations subcommittee in charge
Of the city's spending bills.
Senator Dworshak said yesterday
he could "see lot of possibilities
in the budget and revenue problems
and was not yet ready to say wheth-
er increased District taxes neces-
sarily would be required under the
1949 budget. AS passed by the
House it called for an outlay of
s101, 100000. To make it balance,
District officials are urging a sales
tax to bring in at least $1,000 600 in
the year beginning July /.
Senator DWorshak indicated yes
terday that studies would be made
of any reasonable possibility of
avoiding a tax increase for the COM
ing year. He specified, however, that
If Congress passed a Government
pay raise bill, which would be ap-
piled to District workers, 1t would
force wholesale readjustments In
revenue plans, since the prospective
deficit of the city would rise by
100000 or 100000.
Sees Merit in Bond Issue.
For the reasons, he was inclined
not to rush ahead with Senate hear
ings on the House-passed budget
He promised speedy action once
some decision was charted on the
revenue needs.
Senator Dworshak said he could
see merit in the Bates proposals for
a limited bond issue to spread over
a period of years the costs of school
construction and other needs, but
came up with the thought that bor-
rowing might not be necessary"
This, however was subject to what
Congress might do about q Gov
ernment pay raise.
Representative Bates, Republican,
of Massachusetts,, announced yes
terday he had in draft form bill to
create a single joint committee of
Congress on District affairs. This
is similar In objective to one Of
the sections OF the District home
rule bill.
May Introduce Bill.
Mr.. Bates said he planned TO in
troduce this and push for its enact
ment II there were signs that Con-
gress would not enact the home
rule measure at this session.
Sponsors of the home rule meas
ure confidently predict House pas
sage If the requested procedural
order is>granted by the Rules Com
mittee, but what may happen there
after on the Senate side was con-
sidered conjectural. Some say ut
would take a miracle" to gain Sem
ate approval at this late hour of
this session, since the bill would be
open to filibuster tactics on the
Senate floor.
The Bates draft for a single con-
gressional District Committee would
call for abolition of the House and
Senate separate District Commit
tees, as we'll as the District subcom-
mittees of the House and Senate
Appropriations Committees. One
purpose would be to place the re-
sponsibilities for both spending and
revenues for the city in the hands
of one congressional group-the pro-
posed joint District Committee.
Appropriations Expected.
The only exception, Mr.. Bates said,
was the appropriation of the Fed
eral payment toward the District
would be left with the Appropria-
tions Committees, since this involved
Federal expenditures. The proposed
joint District Committee would have
jurisdiction over authorizing legis-
lation on this subject but actual
funds still would be recommended
by the appropriation groups.
The plan proposed by Mr.. Bates
calls for a joint committee of Is
members, half to be appointed by
the president of the Senate from
the Senate membership. and half
by the Speaker of the House from
the House membership.
Both the House and Senate Dis
trict Committees are planning ses-
sions this week to clear their CAL