Courier-herald. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1949-1950, 1949-12-31
Congress To Reconvene

In another week congress will be back.
It will be the start of an important year
for most of the congressman, since most
Of them face the voters before the year is
over. ,s.. II .s-, ...-.. -.
The seats Of all 435 house members,
and one-third Of the senate, are at stake
In the elections next fall. So what they do
this year will be a factor in whether they
come back again in 1851! -
They know that. And a lot of them will
have to take their stand on the Fair
Deal' program President Truman is going
to present to them. It will be the main
fighting point in the election campaigns.
OF course, some of them, for one rea-
son or another, have their home territory
so sewed up, that no matter what they do
this year they'll still get reelected.
Certainly lot of attention will be
focused on Senator Taft of Ohio who al
ready Is campaigning for reelection in
1850 and, II he wins, will be a contender in
the Republican presidential nomination in
1852.
But the Democrats, who have major
ity In both house and senate now, want to
win even a. larger majority in the 1850
elections. Led by President Truman, they
have their guns pointed at the election
date.
Il they get that big majority-that is,
II Mr.. Truman's about supporters getit-
they'll try to whip through the 1951scon-
gress good chunk Of his program which
fails to pass in 1850.
Not all the Democrats are about Tru-
NANTES. For instance, the Southern Demo-
Gratis may support the president on some
things but almost solidly they'll close
ranks to defeat his civil rights program.
No one around here is rash enough to
predict that Mr.. Truman's National Health
insurance program has chance of getting
through the 1850 congressional session. It
probably won't come up for vote.
Yet, it will be campaign argument
And, If they win stronger control of con-
gress in the elections, they'll probably
claims that as mandate to push health
insurance.
The same goes for the Taft-Eartley
labor act, which Senator Taft helped write.
When the Republicans bossed congress in
1947 they put that through.
But one of the main planks in Mr..
Truman's 1913 successful presidential cam
paign was promise that if he and his
Democrats got control of the government,
TIL would be wiped out. Labor backed
him.
Then when repeal Of TIL came up in
the congress in 1919, it turned out that Mr..
Truman and about supporters didn't have
enough strength after all to push it
through.
Since there hasn't been any change
In that strength, it's doubtful the Tru-
NANTES will try to repeal TIL in 1850. But
they then can appeal to labor again in
1850 and say something like this:
1--WE want to repeal it but we need
more Trumanites elected. So get behind
U.s."
And labor probably will, since labor
wants outright repeal and it's only the
Trumanites who promise that much. The
most the Republicans are willing to go for
Is some changes in TIL.
Mr.. Truman in 1913 appealed to the
negro votes of the north with his cam
paign program for new civil rights laws,
such as poll tax repeal, anti-lynching, and
an FEPC (fair employment practices COM
mission.)
The Southern Democrats were able to
block that in the 1949 session and probably
will be able to do so again in 1850. So on
that one too the Trumanites can, in the
1850 elections, talk of what they'd do in
1851 if they got more Trumanites into
congress.
This is only part, although big part,
of some of the big issues in this up-coming
congress. But more than ever in 1850 con-
gressmen will have to have one eye on
the bills they vote on and the other on
the voters they'll face.