Evening star., 1959-06-14

The Murray-Metcal bill, Whi
to back In the current session, has
made more progress than any SIM
liar new major legislation. 1t has
been reported out by the House
Education and Labor Committee.
AS amended by the committee. 1t
provides for a four-year program
Of $4.4 billion in Federal funds to
be used by the States to pay for
either school construction or
teachers salaries.
Deferred Action Seen
This BILL, now awaiting action
by the House Rules Committee.
appears likely to die there on
adjournment for several reasons.
First OF all. its hackers have de-
cided that the best strategy is to
defer floor action until Congress
meets again in January when the
Rules Committee could report it
early in the next session. Although
they believe that nearly 200 votes
could be counted on now, the mar
gin required to pass it cannot be
found.
The issue of Federal funds for
parochial schools, which has de-
feated school construction legis-
lation in the past, has again come
to the fore. 1t is understood that
Majority Leader John Mccormack
has let it be known that he op-
poses Federal financial support,
particularly for teachers salaries.
Reliable sources claim that pow
erful Roman Catholic objections
to the principle of permanent Fed
eral aid to the public school
system would be significantly re-
duced II parochial schools could
receive long-term Federal loans
for construction purposes. In fact
some leading Democrats believe
that the religious issue has now
become more of a threat to Fed
eral support for education than
segregation.
But perhaps the most powerful
force blocking favorable action of
the Murray-Metcalf bill is con-
gressional resistance to any new
large-scale spending program that
will unbalance the budget.
House Democratic hackers of the
bill are impressed by the extent to
which President Eisenhower's con-
servative fiscal views have met with
popular approval. They hope that
by deferring action until January
a different climate will nave de-
veloped and that by then the busi-
ness boom will guarantee sufficient
extra taxes to finance a substan-
tial education program.
Under these conditions they are
convinced that the highly contro-
verSial issue Of Federal support
for teachers salaries. which has
never been tested in Congress,
would be able to muster more
votes. The teachers, during the
intervening months. would have
had time to bring their influence
to bear. which they cannot do
now during the vacation period.
The Timing Is Bod
Some critics Of the House DEM
ocratic strategy contend that it
was serious political error to
have proposed such an expensive
and controversial bill in the pres
ent session. They argue that in
stead of advocating a program
that even if it could pass both
Houses this year, would inevitably
be killed by a presidential veto, a
more modest bill. perhaps limited
to school construction, should have
been offered.
On the other hand, Republican
Congressman close to the admin
istration are satisfied that the
President would now veto mainly
for budgetary reasons even the
school construction legislation he
submitted to Congress two years
ago.
In any event the Democratic
House strategists point out that by
holding over this bill until next
session. they are not denying the
country any new classrooms or
preventing teachers salary rises.