Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1955-03-30
House May Delete
Committee Curb on
Public Housing Funds
BY ROBERT X. WALSH

BY ROBERT X. WALSH
The House may repudiate its
Appropriations Committee today
by knocking out proposed ban
on expenditures for public hous-
ing projects unless approved by
the Banking and Currency Com
mittee.
Chairman Spence and several
other members of the Banking
Committee disclosed at a Rules
Committee meeting yesterday
that they do not want such
power of approval.
Advocates of more public hous-
ing denounced the provision
written by the Appropriations
Committee into a $50 billion
money bill to finance 18 indie
pendent agencies during the
coming fiscal year. They said the
proposal would create new OBJ
stacles and delays for such hous-
ing programs. Appropriations
Committee spokesman defended
the provisions as necessary ito
recapture in some degree the
control lost by Congress over ex-
penditure of public funds"
Bill Cleared
The Rules Committee, after q
long and occasionally stormy
hearing. cleared the bill for
House action today. But, it re-
jected an Appropriations Com
mittee request that points of
order be waived in House consid-
Grafton of the measure.
That action by the Rules Com
mittee opened the way for oppo-
nents Of the provision to raise q
point of order on the House floor
today that the provision is essen
TALLY legislation which has no
place in an appropriation bill.
If Speaker Rayburn rules the
provision out of order and if the
House sustains him, the Appro-
priations Committee proposal
will be stricken from the bill.
Representative Garmatz, Dem
ocrat. of Maryland urged today
that the House not only disap-
prove the restriction recon-
mended by the Appropriations
Committee but also repeal pre-
vious restrictions he said have
prevented a really effective
public housing construction pro-
gram"
Fears Red Tape
Noting that the committee pro-
vision would allow no new sltim
clearance. urban renewal or pub
lie housing project without Spe-
cific approval of the House and
Senate Banking committees, Mr..
Garmatz said:
This would mean a new layer
OF red tape. a new harassment,
a new delaying method. No
committee of Congress can sub
Stitute for an administrative
agency of Government. The
whole idea seems to be to create
new bottleneck in what is al
ready an almost stalled public
housing program"
The 1854 Housing Act called
for an end to the public housing
program on completion Of $4,000
new units currently under way.
The 1919 law authorized $40, 900
units. About 100000 have been
completed. Mr.. Garmatz pro-
posed that public housing prof.
ect authorizations be restored to
the 1949 level which would allow
about $4,000 new units a year.
Committees Position
The Appropriations Commit
tee summed up its position this
way:
The committee is greatly con-
cerned over the lack of congress
sional control over some of the
loan and grant programs. Dur
ing the past few years the Con-
gress has lost control over the
expenditure of approximately
1913 billion by granting Treasury
authorizations and the right to
make binding contracts before
the money is appropriated. 1t
already has lost control over
potential annual contributions
payments aggregating in excess
of $13 million.
1.-THE committee has therefore
included language in the bill
which will require projects to
be approved by the legislative
committees of the Senate and
House before a contract can be
entered into. Such approval by
the legislative committees recap
lures in some degree the control
lost by Congress over expendi-
ture of public funds"