Evening star., 1949-08-30
The Political Mill
Synthetic Economy Bill
Backed SoIidIy by 6. o. P.
Congress Seen Unwise in Attempt
To Pass Buck to President


Congress Seen Unwise in Attempt
To Pass Buck to President
By Gould Lincoln
The synthetic congressional economy pro-
posed by the Mcclellan amendment to the
military appropriations bill properly failed
although the failure was by narrow margin
when the vote was taken in the Senate. The
proposal was to instruct the President to
reduce actual Government spending during
the present fiscal year by S to 10 per cent Of
the Presidents budget estimates If Congress
wanted to make these reductions, obviously
it should have made them itself - and not
sought to pass an unsavory buck to the
President But far beyond that, Congress
would have no business defegating such
powers to the Chief Executive.
An argument made In support Of the
Mcclellan amendment was that since the
President produced the overall Government
budget and was familiar with all It's items.
the President was the right man to know
where to cut it-and members of Congress
could not know. The next step would be to
argue that the President. since he knew the
needs of the Government, should make the
appropriations. Indeed, in backhanded sort
of way this is exactly what the Mcclellan
amendment proposed to do. The purse strings
of the Government, which the Constitution
placed in the hands of Congress. would then
be completely transferred to the occupant
of the White House.
Backed by Republicans.
The Mcclellan amendment, though offered
by Democrat from Arkansas and sup
ported by considerable number Of Demo-
cratic Senators, was backed almost solidly
by the Republicans. They seized on it as
an economy move-and they have been
clamoring for economy while continuing to
vote for big appropriations. Il they had
succeeded in placing upon the shoulders OF
the President the duty Of cutting expendt-
lures to 10 per cent-where Congress had
not made sufficiently big cuts-they might
have placed Mr.. Truman in an embarrassing
position. Either he would have had to re-
frain from making the cuts or have made
himself unpopular by reducing the spend
ing which Congress had authorized. But at
the same time they would have placed in
his hands a power which might have been
used against themselves.
For example, what would have hindered
the Presidents decreeing all the cuts in the
expenditures for rivers and harbors should
be made in districts and States now repre-
sented by Republicans in Congress? The
curtailments in Government spending all
along the kne might have been used as
political club-and all the screaming by
Republicans would have been Of little avail
There is wide divergefcy of opinion as to
whether Congress has really cut Mr.. Tru-
mans budget materially. The Senate Ap-
propriations Committee, however, has pro-
duced a table which shows that budget
estimates for Is appropriation bills. totaling
$35, ,143, ,759,663. seven of which have been
finally passed with the other six in various
stages Of the legislative process, have been
cut in these bills by $l.732,791 ,675. That is
a sizable reduction.
Most Cuts Due to House.
Most of the cuts are due to House action.
Indeed, in only two of these bills has the
Senate or its Appropriations Committee re-
duced the total carried in the House bills.
. And the total Senate increase over the
House bills was nearly half billion dollars.
In the Civil Functions Bill-the rivers and
harbors bill. the old "pork barrel bill"-the
House decreased the budget bill by more
than $2l, 100000. only to have the Senate
increase the bill by around $3.50, 900 900. Not
a very good record for senatorial economy.
The demands for Governmental economy
are sound, particularly in the light Of tre-
mendously high taxes and because of the
huge national debt upon which interest
must be paid and whose principal must be
reduced. In addition, the Government Is
now going into the red again-after couple
Of years of balanced budget. The respon-
sibility for economy rests squarely upon
Congress- since only Congress can authorize
and make appropriations Of the public
funds.
Spending money is more popular than
economy and dollar pinching. The Chief
Executive could put a damper on big spend
ing by refraining from sending to Congress
a big budget But once the presidential
budget was submitted, and it was big one
for the present fiscal year. Congress felt the
big spending pressure The administration
started shouting that, with unemployment
on the increase, this was no time to cut
Government spending-the old pump -prim-
ing idea which never yet has rescued
country from extravaganza and debt.