Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-07-08

Inc Feoeral aid to education bill,
a major proposal in the programs
Of both Republicans and Democrats,
was expelled for this semester of
Congress on Thursday by action of
the House of Representatives.
The long-sought and politically
battered proposal went down in a
maze OF on-again, off-again parlia-
mentary Vaccinations that left
many of the seasoned congressman
asking who was on first. When the
dust around homeplate cleared, Re-
publicans were blaming Democrats
and Democrats were blaming Re-
publicans for defeat Of the measure
which had been near the top of
President Eisenhowers legislative
proposals.
But the real culprit was election
year politics. The SIG billion meas
ure, defeated last year by the racial
issue, had been Kept for months in
a congressional cubbyhole while its
hackers patiently labored behind
the scenes to line up support for
bill that could pass without the
welghty encumbrance of an amend
ment giving aid only to integrated
schools. Representative Adam Clay
ton Powell, Democrat of New York.
was the man they were watching.
Mr.. Powell was ready with an
amendment which would deny
Federal funds to any school system
that operated on racially segre-
gated basis.
Finally, supporters Of the school
bill thought they had enough votes
lined up to defeat the Powell
amendment and follow up with pas
sage of bill without such strings.
The bill was brought to the floor.
But its hackers apparently had ov-
erestimated their strength. On a
tally vote Of 1874 to 116, the House,
sitting as committee of the whole,
voted to include the Powell amend
ment. This was on Tuesday.
On Thursday, after the Independ-
ence Day holiday, Representative
Samuel Mcconnell, jr., Republican
of Pennsylvania, offered an amend
ment containing the administra-
tons formula for distributing
grants to States according to their
needs. 1t was rejected once on
tally vote, and then again on roll
call. Next, an amendment by Rep
resentative Ralph Gwinn, Repub-
lican of New York, providing that
States would receive / per cent of
the money they paid in Federal
taxes was tentatively adopted. Mr..
Gwinn'S amendment, substitution
for the grant section, had the effect
of killing the previously adopted
Powell amendment.
At this point Mr.. Powell reintro-
duced his amendment in altered
form and it was adopted on a
roll-call vote, 225 to 1872. When
the Congressman stood up to be
counted on final passage the vote
was 224 against, 1874 for.
The result was greeted by cheers
and rebel yells from the South
erners, who hadn't wanted the bill
in any form, with or without the
Powell amendment.
Post Mortems
Northern Democrats, presiding
over post-mortem, said the party
lineups on the various votes showed
a Republican desire to capture the
Northern Negro vote was the
reason for defeat of Federal aid
to schools. 1t was charged that,
at the last minute, the G. o. P.
House leadership has passed along
the word to vote for the Powell
amendment and that the Repub-
licans had fallen in line-including
some who had been counted on to
oppose the Gripping amendment.
Republicans denied any such de-
signs. They said they voted against
final passage because the bill at that
point no longer was an adminiStra-
ton measure.
But the roll call showed many
Republicans from States where the
Negro ballot is not decisive voted
for the Powell amendment. Some
of these subsequently voted against
final passage. The vote on the
amendment shaped up this way:
Democrats for the amendment, n;
Republicans, 148. and Democrats
opposing the amendment, 146; Re-
publicans, as.
On passage Of the bill, only eight
Democrats from States outside the
segregated South voted mo" along
with 81 southerners, while the list
of Republicans opposed totaled 119.
For the bill were 119 Democrats and
IS Republicans.
The defeat of the bill will add to
the growing list Of issues that will
be argued on the stump in the COM
ing campaign. Here, it would seem
the Republicans have the advan-
tage.. They will blame the Southern
Democrats for failure of the bill,
and will promise that if the 85th
Congress is Republican, controlled,
a school aid bill will be passed. The
Democrats will be put to the dis
advantage of trying to explain what
happened on that confused day in
the House when, for the second year
in a row. Federal aid was denied
the overcrowded schools Of America.