Evening star., 1949-03-17
The Political Mil
Truman Program Dealt
Heavy Blow in Senate
COP. Conservative Democrat
Coalition Held Responsible

GOP.Conservativs Democrat
Coalition Held Responsible
By Gould Lincoln
From the Truman program point Of view.
the worst has happened. In the Senate, .
coalition of Republicans and conservative
Democrats has been cemented, growing out
of the recent Truman-to-L Lucas -to-Barkley
triple play f1asco, in which Vice President
Barkleys ruling that the cloture rule could
be applied on a motion to take up meas
ure was badly fumbled.
The coalition resulted in halting In its
tracks q ruling which would In the end have
made 1t possible to apply two-thirds cloturs
in Senate consideration Of civil rights meas
ures. A similar coalition of Republicans
and conservative Democrats may be expected
to kill of other Truman proposals during
the remainder of the session, including
outright repeal of the Taft-Hartley labor
law (Which means the repeal of all the i'm
portant provisions of that law), administra-
tion-supported tax increases, a price and
wage control measure, socialized medicine.
and two years extension of the Federal
rent control law.
This is bitter situation which Mr.. Tru-
man, who returned to Washington last De.
cember hailed as great undefeated cham.
pion, now confronts. He has Democratic
Congress, but in name only. It is certainly
not a Truman Congress. The truth is that
many Democrats in Congress feel they owe
Mr.. Truman nothing. so far as their own
elections are concerned, and feel that many
OF the measures on the Truman program
are unwise and would be harmful to the
country if written into law.
Promises Frustrated.
Tho dafoot of toa rr,,,,oo,, foroee ;,, %I,>
Senate on the rules and filibuster fight has
again demonstrated to the Negro voters Of
the country, and to Negroes generally. that
they can expect nothing from the Demo-
cratic Party as long as that party is divided
over the civil rights program Mr.. Truman'S
promises, which brought him the majority
of the Negro vote at the polls last November.
have so far been completely frustrated.
Already Senate Majority Leader Lucas
and other Truman Democrats have sought
to place the blame on the Republicans for
the defeat of the Barkley cloture ruling. AS
1t happens however, % Democrats (some OF
them outside of the South Joined with %
Republicans, or vice versa to beat the Barkley
ruling. The Republicans were voting to sus-
tain an earlier ruling made by their own
Senator Vandenberg of Michigan on the clear
Interpretation of the language Of the exist
ing rules.
II some of them were motivated by a de-
sire to place the Administration in hole,
even if it delayed civil rights legislation. 1t
was not altogether unnatural They are in
a position to say to Negro voters-if they
wish-"What do we, as Republicans, owe
you? You have, in five presidential elec-
tions, turned your backs on Republican can
didates And we might ask, what do the
Negroes of this country owe the Republican
Party, and have they forgotten the debt?"
The compromise change in the Senate
cloture rule, with which the recent filibuster
was ended makes cloture Of debate certain
if constitutional two-thirds vote of the
Senate is obtained on any motion. measure
or thing that is before the Senate.
Republicans Claim Gain.
This means vote of not less than "a
Senators, two thirds Of the total 96 The
old rule required only two-thirds vote Of
all those voting. But the old rule also did
not provide for invoking cloture on a de-
bate Of the Senate daily journal or on a
motion to take up measure. So the Re-
publicans claim they have made a SUBJ
stantial gain for civil rights, although
Senator Lucas and others scream that it
Is not 50.
Southern Democratic Senators see both
a gain and loss in the compromise rule.
Senator Ellender of Louisiana, present
champion lOng-QlSCance speaker OF Lno
upper house. frankly says he would prefer
to enter a flibuster, If he must. under the
old rule than under the new. One Of the
main things the Southerners-and the Re-
publicans who believe in free, unlimited
debate in the Senate-gained in the COM
promise rule is the provision that it leaves
Senators entirely free to filibuster on any
further proposed change in the rule (for
example. a proposal for majority cloture
which has been advanced by President
Truman), for cloture could not be invoked
on a motion to take up an amendment to
the rule.
The compromise rule was offered in the
names of 80 Democratic Senators, 10 Of
them not from the Solid South" and 22
Republicans. after many conferences. Under
the new rule the Republicans are promis-
ing to help bring before the Senate In the
future civil rights measures. Some Of the
Southern Democrats admit that this may
be possible (though they hope not). But
of one thing the Southerners are reason
ably sure-it will not be possible to apply
the cloture rule on a motion to take up an
FEPC bill, because such q measure could
not command the support of enough Sem
atorS