Evening star., 1955-07-20
BY ROBERT X. WALSH

august.
One such difficulty was re-
f1ected in a bitter renewal of
dispute between high = ranking
Democfats on the Rules and the
Appropriations Committees. This
could cause repercussions during
the coming week or two in Rules
Committee consideration of re-
quests for clearance of several
major bills.
Rules Committee Chairman
Smith, Democrat of Virginia, |
took the House floor yesterday
at the start of debate on the
minimum wage bill. But he di-I
rected his remarks almost COM
pletely to an attack on what
he called the "star chamber pro-
ceedings" and House rules vio-
lations by the Appropriations
Committee.
This was an echo of the point
of order" exhibition last Thurs !!
day. Some Democrats on the.
Appropriations Committee, un-!
able to get Rules Committee.
sanction for waving points of
order on a $1.6-billion supple
mentary supply bill, raised OBJ
jections that numerous items in
the bill had not been authorized
by law or in other respects con-
stituted legislation in an appro-I
priation bill. When the perform
ance ended, all except about
1922 million had been ordered
out of the bill.
Likely to be Restored
Practically all of the stricken
items are likely to be restored by
the Senate and eventually ac-
cepted by the House. Mr.. Smiths
defense Of the Rules Committee
and denunciation of various
Appropriations Committee prac-
tices nevertheless was regarded
as making July 80 adjourn
ment goal harder than ever to
attain--if legislative leaders ex-
pect to enact all the must"
measures they recently listed.
The huge road building bill, |
scheduled to be reported out to-
day with many additional
changes written in only yester-
day at a reconsideration" ses-
sion of the Public Works Com
mite, must get through the
Rules Committee before reaching
the House floor. The Rules
group. with an already heavy
schedule Of hearings. is not ex-
pected to consider the highway
measure in time for House action
this week.
The fate of the housing pro-
gram bill also rests largely with
the Rule Committee. The Sem
ate has passed a bill setting al
100000 minimum and 100000
maximum for low-cost public
housing unit construction over
four years. The House Banking
Committee some time ago re-
ported out a bill to provide for
10000 units over two years, as Il
recommended by Mr.. Eisenhower.
Committee Split
The House bill has begged
down in the Rules Committee
because of a 6-6 split on clearing
If for the floor action. Chairman
Smith and Representative Col
mer. Democrat of Mississippi, re-
portedly voted with the four
Republican members against
clearance Of the measure in its
present form.>
This stalemate has created a
headache, not only for Demo-
cratic leaders who want prompt
passage. but also for the Fed
eral Housing Administration,
which needs legislation to func-
ton. Some leaders said today
they doubt that the House Bank
ing Committee would be willing
to report out a substitute bill
eliminating all public housing
provisions or simply extending
other key sections Of the exist
ing housing program.
Two other unusually important
bills apparently are slated for
House action early next week,
with comparatively good pros
poets Of adoption. One is the De-
fense Production Act measure
approved by the Senate yester-
day. House concurrence was con-
f1dently forecast in view Of the
necessity Of assuring emergency
controls and ALLEGATION author
ization.
The other bill deals with the
highly controversial question of
whether the Federal Power Com
mission should be allowed to reg
ulate prices charged by natural
gas producers. There were indi-
cations today that the measure
to forbid such FPC regulation
might be brought up in the
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