Evening star., 1955-06-26
District Funds,
Strike Issue
Due for Action
BY DON S. WARREN

Decision on several major Dis
ltrict issues may be made this
week on Capitol Hill.
or prime Importance is the
big District supply bill for the
year beginning July 1. It in
wolves a contest between the
House and Senate, mostly over
| the move Of the House to chop
$4 million from the authorized
$40 million Federal payment
made part Of the bargain last
year when Congress adopted the
$3o5 million l0-year public works
program.
4 Representative Ragaut, Demo-
lcrat. Of Michigan. chairman Of
the House Appropriations sub
committee in charge Of the Dis
Itrict budget, said he would move
promptly tomorrow to send the
bill to conference with the SEN
ate.
Compromise Sought
It was expected the conferees
would meet tomorrow also In
hope that a compromise agree
ment would be reached by the
end of the day.
Mr.. Rahaut told reporters.
with an exceedingly friendly tone
to his voice: MY only ambition
is to be very just to the citizens
of the District"
i He said that if the District is
willing to get going quickly. as
Inow indicated, on a reassessment
OF all real estate, "this will get
pretty good attention from me" "
He added that the District thus
would be In better shape to meet
Its problems which could be ex-
Ipected to increase because Of q
growing population. BY the same
token. he said. property values
here should continue to rise.
! Aside from the question of the
size of the Federal payment,
there are many differences be-
tween the House and Senate on
the District budget.
Differences Cited ,,
On a net basis. the Senate bill
is $2.5 million higher than the
House, but Mr.. Rabaut indicated
this could be settled amicably
and easily.
The Senate District Committee
lis scheduled to meet at 3 pm.
tomorrow with one Of Its prime
problems what to do about the
threatened strike of employees Of
the Capital Transit Co. On a
motion by Senator Morse, Demo-
crat, of Oregon, the committee
is considering a formal move to
intervene in the case in the hopes
of preventing q strike.
Senator Morse said yesterday
he thought 1t would be perfectly
absurd" to let the issue 60 to q
strike and let the public suffer
the damage. He said "the case
could be settled on the basis Of
the present issues"
Responsibilities Stressed
Both sides of this controversy,
he said, "ought to recognize their
responsibilities to the public"
The Senate District Commit
tee at tomorrow's meeting also
is expected to act on a much re-
drafted bill to set up primary
elections here for the selection
of District delegates to the ma
tional political party conventions
which next year will nominate
presidential candidates.
House and Senate conferees
are scheduled to meet tomorrow
at 2:30 pm. on the embattled
issue of how much of pay raise
to grant to judges of the District
Municipal Court Of Appeals. the
Municipal Court. the Juvenile
Court and the District Tax
Court.
This has become a rather
painful issue between the House
and Senate since the House fiat
Ily refused to accept a conference
agreement giving a raise Of S.
900 to most of the judges and
somewhat more to the juvenile
court Judge because her present
pay is lower than that Of the
others.
Pay Raise Is Issue
The House instructed its con-
Iferees to accept no more Of a
raise than $1,000. One key mem
ber of the Senate conference
group was being quoted yeSter-
day as saying he was willing to
come down to a raise of $4,000,
but no less and that if the House
group would not yield the whole
question could be postponed un-
til next year.
A pay raise for District school
teachers. already voted hv the
Senate, will be considered by the
Abernethy subcommittee Of the
House District Committee at a
hearing at Z pm. tomorrow in
Room 445 Of the Old House
Building.
Seven District bills will be
taken up for action in the House
tomorrow. one Of them an
amendment to the Districts i'm
sanity law. n