The Glacier reporter. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1953-current, 1955-02-04
CONGRESSMAN LEE
METCAlE REPORTS FROM
WASHINGTON

legislation were introduced i r
the 83rd Congress; 1O,695 in the
House, 5,677 in the Senate. How
ever, many of the House Bills
were identical.
| Senate rules permit members
OF that body to co-sponsor legis.
lation. 1t is common practice for
number of Senators to intro,
duce a bill together. And this is
one of the reasons fewer bills are
introduced in the Senate than in
the House.
Unlike the U. S. Senate and
the Montana Legislature, how
ever, the United States House of
Representatives makes no pro-
visions for joint sponsorship of
legislation. So if a representative
wishes to join in introducing a
particular bill, he must put in
the bill himself.
l have introduced several bills
for this reason.
For example, my legislative
program to date includes such
bills to develop public library
services in rural areas, eliminate
a glaring inequity in veterans
loan guarntees and to let Indians
decide whether they will be
transferred from Federal to
state criminal and civil juris-
diction.
Thirteen Senators, including
Mike Mansfield, introduced the
rural library services bill in the
Senate as single bill. More than
20 Representatives individually
introduced the same measure in
the house
Briefly, this is a five-year pro-
gram of grants to be used by
state library agencies of foster
development of rural library SER
vices for the more than 26 mil
lion Americans, living on farms
or in small communities, who are
still without access to modern
library services. The bill, sup
ported by the American library
Association, guarantees against
Federal interference with or con-
troll of state or local library
agencies. Cost of the program,
not to exceed STU million a year,
would depend on how fast the
states move to improve and ex-
tend library services.
Present law sets a maximum of
$500 on the Veterans Admins
tration guarantee for home loans.
But the guarntee for a farm loan
is only $4,000. In justice to the
excl who settles on a farm,
the farm loan guarantee should
be raised to the same level as
that on other real estate pur-
chaSes. In view of rising costs,
the maximum for both home and
farm loans should be raised.
| The chief prepayment of this
Legislation is Congressman Ed
mondson of Oklahoma. mem
Der of the Veterans Affairs Com.
mittee. A number of us have in.
troduced bills like his to show
our support.
Last session, I co-sponsored
many other bills, including:
Set up a Federal equalization
program for public school con
struction.
Increase individual income tax
exemptions.
Extend and improve both soc
ial security and unemployment
compensation.
Provide for special elections at
which enrolled Indians on reser'
vations would decide wheaher
they would be transferred from
Federal to State criminal and
civil jurisdiction.
All of these bills have been,
or will be, introduced in the 84th
Congress and l shall join in CO,
sponsoring them once more.
Last session | introduced bill
identical to the one introduced
by Congressional Pfost of
Idaho and Congressman Don
Magnuson of Washington to pro.
vide for development of the
Snake River in neighboring
Idaho in the public interest. !
shall do SO again this session.
The measures listed above
we're first introduced by other
members of the House My in
PRODUCTION was in the nature of
co-sponsorship. Other bills in my
Legislative program which l am
principally sponsoring will be
discussed later.