Evening star., 1957-04-28

action until next year on most
tax reduction move.
A bill to ease the personal II
liberal exemptions or by lowerin
likely to be passed before ad-
journment in July. But its most
enthusiastic advocates say that
even under the most favorable
fiscal conditions it could not take
effect until next January at the
earliest.
Routine House and Senate CAL
endars this week will give both
branches a chance to recover
gradually from the recess as well
as to assess the results of home
district observations.
During May the Senate will
start debating some of the eight
1858 regular appropriation bills
from which the House already
has trimmed more than 81 billion
from administration requests.
The House. meanwhile, will de-
vote much of its time to
considering the still bigger
supply bills for the departments
of Agriculture and Defense.
public works programs. and
foreign economic and military
aid.
Other Matters
That does not mean such other
important matters as civil rights.
school construction aid, postal
rates, regulation Of natural gas
producers. statehood for Alaska
and Hawaii. the question of pos
sible presidential disability and
the tightening of labor relations
statutes will be ignored.
Battles on those and many
other issues, however. will be
waged mainly in committees
during the next few weeks.
Several of those bills are almost
certain to be approved either by
the House or Senate this year.
Few are given a good chance OF
getting through both branches
and to the White House at the
1857 session.
The civil rights bill, for
example. has been reported out
by the House judiciary Commit
tee. Rules Committee Chairman
Smith, Democrat of Virginia, has
promised to hold hearings soon
for clearance of the bill to the
House.
In the final weeks of the 84th
Congress last year the House
approved a civil rights bill which
was pigeonholed in the Senate
not only because of the lateness
of the hour but also because of
fear Of a filibuster by Southern
members. A House bill might
suffer the same fate in the
Senate this year but 1t would
remain alive for consideration
there again next year before the
S5th Congress expires.
Compromise Bill
A compromise bill for, Federal
aid to help States cope with an
acute shortage Of public school
classrooms was approved early
this month by a House Education
and Labor subcommittee. The
full committee. headed by Repre-
sentative Barden, Democrat OF
North Carolina. an avowed foe
of that type Of legislation. ex-
poets to vote on the bill sometime
In May.
The bill still would face a
difficult hurdle in the House be-
cause Of the determination OF
Representative Powell, Democrat
Of New York, to press for an
amendment barring Federal
school aid payments to States OF
communities maintaining racial
segregation. The bill apparently
stands a better chance Of win
ming House approval this year
1t nevertheless might encounter
great difficulty in the Senate. II
only because no committee hear
ings have yet been held there.
The recent hassle between
Postmaster General Summer
field and the House Appropria-
tions Committee over a 1857
deficiency allotment for his de-
partment has intensified interest
in the long-pending bill to boost
postal rates. But it is doubtful