Evening star., 1950-01-01
Congressional Voting
On Labor Measures
Listed by AFL, Clio
BY the Associoied Press

1 ne AfL anu C1O came out
yesterday with new congressional
scorecards designed as guides for
labor union members at the bal
lot box in 1950s
The two labor organizations,
claiming 100000 members, pub
lished lists showing how all Con-
gress members voted in 1949 on
issues in which labor was inter-
eSted.
The AFL scorecard was a
special pamphlet issued by its
Labor's League for Political Ac-
ton. The CLOS list, prepared by
it's legislative branch and Poiiti-
cal Action Committee. was pub
lished as a regular issue of its
newspaper, the CIO News.
The lists are to be widely dis
tributed among union members.
Both organizations stressed they
were not intended to be "black
lists" of Congressman labor wants
defeated, nor to be Endorsements
of members labor wants re-
elected.
1850 Votes to be Watched.
It was stressed by both organ
izations, too, that the way men,
bers of Congress vote in 1850 on
various issues prior to election
time will be considered before
either decides on who it will sup
port or oppose at the polls.
However, the CIO said tits easy
to predict that labor's approval i.
more apt to go to the IA Senators
and Ill Representatives who cast
no wrong votes Tin 1949) thar
to the three Senators and 2e
Representatives who cast no right
votes"
The AFL listed 20 Senators ano
116 Representatives with perfect
right voting records this year
and five Senators and 81
Representatives with consistently
wrong" records.
Selection of different issues on
which to weigh the voting of
Congress members caused the diff
ferent totals. The AFL chose 10
issues for each the Senate and
House. The CIO used 16 record
votes in the Senate, and 13 in
the House.
The AFL confined its tests to
domestic issues. The CIO included
foreign issues. The AFL used a
civil rights rollcall in the Senate
but none in the House. The CIO
had civil right rollcalls in both
House and Senate.
Votes in both House and Senate
on attempts to repeal the Taft
Hartley labor law got top spots
on the lists Of both labor organi-
cations for testing the Congress-
mems sympathies to labor.
In fact on one of these Taft
Hartley issues-a bill sponsored
by Senator Taft, Republican, OF
Ohio, and passed in the Senate
though never brought to a vote
in the House-the AFL said:
! mo Senator who voted for this
amendment can be considered a
friend of labor"
This measure was offered by
Senator Taft to make number of
~, or,ooe H., ft,n Ia bcr IL -, %<x x-,o1%
labor objections. The CIO said
the Taft bill only would. have re-
tanned most of the TIL law.
Improvement Noted.
The CIO said the first session of
the 81st Congress this year was a
vast improvement over the awful
S0th' but the 81st fell down on
the job on many issues. (It should
have been better"
Congress votes on Taft Hartley
repeal attempts, minimum wage,
housing. social security, natural
gas rate regulation, and anti-t trust
legislation were included in both
AFL and CIO voting surveys.
The three Senators tagged by
the CIO as failing to vote right"
a single time were Williams, Re-
publican, of Delaware, Butler, Re-
publican, of Nebraska and Bricker,
Republican, of Ohio. None of the
three are UP for reelection this
year.
The five Senators classed by the
sAFL as consistently wrong" were
Williams, Milliken, Republicans of
Colorado. Donnell, Republican, of
Missouri, KEN, Republican. of
Missouri and Gordon, Republican
of Oregon. Milliken and Donnell
are up for reelection next fall
and the AFL Political League al
ready has announced it will oppose
them.
The AFL League also has an
nounced it will oppose reelection
attempts next fall of six other
Republican Senators - Taft;
Young. North Dakota: Gurney,
South Dakota; Wiley. Wisconsin;
Capehart. Indiana, and Hicken-
looper, Iowa-and oppose four
Democratic Senators-Fulbright,
Arkansas; Tydings. Maryland;
George. Georgia, and Hoey, North
Carolina.
Seventeen Senators, including
three Republicans, have already
received the AFL Leagues assur-
anc of support next fall. These
are Senators Tobey, Republican,
of New Hampshire: Morse. Re-
publican. of Oregon: Aiken, Re-
publican, of Vermont: Hill, Demo-
crat, of Alabama; Hayden, Demo-
crat. of Arizona; Downey, Demo-
crat, of California; Mcmahon,
Democrat, of Connecticut; Pepper,
Democrat. of Florida; Taylor,
Democrat. of Idaho: Lucas, Demo-
crat. of Illinois; Long, Democrat,
of Louisiana; McCarran. Demo-
crat, of Nevada; Elbert Thomas,
Democrat, of Utah; Elmer
Thomas, Democrat, of Oklahoma;
Myers. Democrat, of Pennsylvania:
Johnston. Democrat, of South
Carolina. and Mapnuson. Demo-