Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-04-08
BY DAVID KOONCE

All except JnaC usual nard core
of tardy members of Congress will
return to their desks on Capitol
Hill tomorrow after Today Easter
vacation. which. for many on the
House side, was only the official
extension of an unofficial three
month vacation.
With less than four months re-
naming of the 84th Congress, the
really tough decisions are still to be
wrestled with. More than three
months have passed since the open
ing of the second session on jan
uary 3. What has been done?
Only one piece or what might be
called major legislation has been
signed into law - a bill extending
the corporation and excise tax
structure. Only two major bills
have cleared both houses, the Colo
RADIO River storage project and the
natural gas bill. For all practical
purposes, the month spent by the
Senate in debating the gas bill was
for naught - President Eisenhower
vetoed it under circumstances still
uncomfortably fresh in the memo
ries of too many Senators.
OF the 2O1 specific legislative re-
quests made by President Eisen-
hover since Congress convened last
January 3, only IL have been re-
turned to the White House for the
Presidents signature. according to
a Congressional Quarterly tally.
When it comes to playing hockey,
the House has been the major Of
fender. 1t has met on only one
Friday since the session began,
and then for less than an hour
Most Of its sessions have lasted less
than three hours. and seven less
than an hour. On Is weekdays
prior to the Easter vacation, only
tourists could be found in the
House chamber.
While the Senate has been hard
at work, it has but little to show
for its labors. The upper body
has spent many grueling 12-hour
sessions, talking long past the
usual bedtime hour of its young
pages. Nine weeks of talk resulted
in the passage of only two bills
jigsaW farm measure the future
of which is still in doubt, and the
vetoed gas bill.
Book Where They Storted
Thus Congress for practical pur-
poses is Just about where 1t started
Is weeks ago
The list of unfinished business
includes: Highway building. social
security liberalization, Federal
aid for school construction, health
insurance, increased postal rates.
United States participation in the
Organization for Trade Cooper
alton. civil rights. Federal food in
surance, foreign aid. control Of
campaign gifts, amendments liber-
alizing the Refugee Relief Act, aid
for areas depressed by chronic I'M
employment. housing and the Fry
ing Pan-Arkansas reclamation
Project. Besides this imposing list
there are other less urgent pro-
posals that are nevertheless de-
sired by many. such as Hawaii
Alaska statehood and a rebored,
Simonized Bricker amendment.
Many OF the major items are
dead or dying. Some are hope
lessly tangled in election-year poll
ticking. For others, there just will
not be the time.
OF all the big problems. that Of
highway building and financing
appears to be the most likely to get
action. The Senate passed a high
way bill last year. and the House
soon will tackle a billion
dollar proposal This too could be
time-consuming if the lawmakers
get into the motorists truckers bat
tie over where the cost burden
should be conferred.
Civil rights. that old ogre in both
houses. is an issue that by itself
could tie up Congress for weeks
and that. by political osmosis, has
become part OF other problems
1t is almost certain to kill Federal
aid for school building. and it
threatens to strangle any action
on aid for medical schools and re-
search facilities and money for hos
pital building.
The House has passed bill lip-
eralizing social security benefits
which is opposed by the admins
tration as well as a majority of the
Senate Finance Committee. Both
houses have passed a farm bill, now
in conference. which faces a posi-
BILE veto
Among the dying proposals are