Evening star., 1955-07-15
Fund Measure
Sliced olPct.
In House Action
Defense Building
Cut to $122 Million
In Committee Clash
By ROBERT X. WALSH

BY kObEhT n. WALSH
A House bill that started buoy
antly to appropriate SIS billion
but came out with only an
anemic $122 million was car
ried to the Senate resuscitation
chamber today.
This represented a cut Of
more than 90 per cent.
There 1t probably will re-
cover most of its vital parts and
eventually survive in its original
size and shape. But in the House
late yesterday it fell victim of
one of the weirdest point of
order" assaults in the history Of
Congress.
The measure to give millions
for defense construction and
supplementary sums for numer-
GUS Federal and District govern
ment proposals was practically
skinned alive in a probably un-
precedented display of parlia-
mentary pique. It also met the
customary fate of the innocent
bystander when it was caught
in a clash between committees.
This unique exhibition of
budget-cutting resulted in the
striking out of almost $l.4 bill
lion in public works allotments
for all branches of the armed
services, as well as $484 million
in previously voted funds to the
Army for the fiscal year which
began July l..
Committee Row
1t all was done not by mirrors
but by a technical device of OBJ
Ijecting to items which had not
specifically been authorized. This
reflected anger of many men,
bers of the Appropriations Com
mittee against the Rules Com
mittee and a dispute between
ltop-level Democrats and Repub-
Ilicans on the Appropriations
Committee. Still anothe: factor
WAS sleeper" provision to raise
some committee STAFF salaries.
Ironically. this opportunity to
raise points of order to strike out
individual items was possible In
most instances because President
Eisenhower had not yet signed
a recently passed bill authorizing
those very projects.
Democratic Representative Ra-
Ibaut of Michigan made the points
of order with persistent and con-
sistent regularity. They were
sustained by Representative
Mills, Democrat of Arkansas,
presiding officer at the time
There was general agreement
Mr.. Mills could have followed nc
other course. Many Republican.
objected to the whole business
But many of them, too, support.
ed such moves to eliminate sew.
eral items they thought had nc
business in the bin.
Finally, after a debate thai
began soon after noon on Bas.
tile Day. the weary House voiced
approval of what remained ir
the emaciated bill at 7 pm. anc
quit until Monday.
House Republican Leader Mar.
tin stressed in a statement latel
that every point Of order against
the bill was made by a Demo.
crat and accepted by a Demo.
crat.
Never in my long Legislative
Experience" he said, have
lever witnessed such irresponsi'
bility and lack Of appreciation
of obligations to the country a.
was the performance of tn.
. leadership of the Democratic.
controlled Appropriations Com.
mittee. They recklessly oi
!, their own accord destroyed theil
own studies and findings requir.
ing several weeks of effort"
Hot From Start
The debate itself started out
, with something of a bang wher
Appropriations Com mittet
Chairman Cannon, Democrat O.
,, Missouri, warned that Russis
had gained military superiority
"over the combined powers o.
all the free world" His asser.
ton was disputed later by Rep
, resentative Scrivner, Kansa'
Republican on the committee
who said he was not ready tt
concede Russia had superiority
over the United States in any
. thing more than a few je
planes.
This exchange was soon for
gotten when Mr.. Rabaut, MI
Cannon and others complained
that the Rules Committee las
l Wednesday refused their reques
for a rule waving points o
order on the $l,648,876,128 bill
Such a rule would have pre-
vented any House member from
striking out items which con
tanned legislative rather thai
Continued ON Pare An. Col.