Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1959-04-19
House Action
On Housing
Seen in May
BY ROBERT X. WALSH
Star star Writer

The House will act on hous-
ing legislation by early May
despite present Rules Commit
tee obstruction. but the delay
has revived a threat to curb
the committees power to block
bills.
A group Of younger Demo-
cratic members, at the behest
Of Speaker Rayburn, called of
q drive last January to pre-
vent the committee from sit
ting on bills more than u
days. The group now has been
aroused by the committees
6-to-6 vote last week against
letting the House consider an
already long-stalled Senate
approved housing measure.
Spokesman for the group
say they do not intend TO press
Immediately for a 2l-day rule
resolution. The group report
eddy intends to wait and see
whether the bill gets back on
the track. 1t also wants to see
what the Rules Committee does
about several other pending
bills, including q $50 million
water pollution control pro-
posal and a Senate-approved
bill for Federal aid to COM
munities hard-hit by unem-
ployment.
Given assurances"
January, when they aban-
doned the 21-day rule move,
the 100 or more Democratic
members in the group said they
received assurances" from
Speaker .,Rayburn that legiSla-
ton which has been considered
and reported by legislative COM
mittees will be brought before
the House for consideration
within a reasonable period of
time.
Advocates of the $2.l billion
housing bill, meanwhile, showed
increasing confidence yesterday
that the bill will reach the
House floor by the first week
in May. They would not pre-
dict whether this would result
from a breaking of the Rules
Committee deadlock or by a
suspension of the rules.
The 6-6 vote last Thursday
arose when two of the COM
mittee's eight Dem crats.
Chairman Smith of Virginia
and Representative Colmer of
Mississippi. sided with the four
Republicans against clearing
the bill. Persuasion or a posi-
BILE compromise proposal might
cause one or more of those OPP
ponents to change his vote.
If not, Democratic leaders
indicate they will call up the
measure under suspension OF
House rules. This would re-
quire a two-thirds majority
vote for passage, limit debate
to only 40 minutes and give
members no chance to offer
amendments.
Two-Thirds Vote Seen
A survey of the House situa-
ton and sentiment since the.
committees tie vote encour-I
ragged some supporters Of the
housing bill to believe the
measure would have a good
chance of receiving a two
thirds majority vote.
One of the arguments re-
portedly being used in an ef-
fort to persuade Rules Com
mittee Republicans to reverse
their stand is that the housing
bill would be open to amend
ment if sent to the House by
the committee. There have been
strong signs that the House
would amend the controversial
provision for $4,000 additional
public housing units annually
for the next four years.
A similar housing bill was
brought up in the House last
August under rules suspension
after the Rules Committee re-
fused to clear it. The vote was
251-134, six votes short of the
necessary two-thirds.
But 80 of the 1874 who voted
against that bill are no longer
in the House. All were Repub-
licans and most of them we're
defeated by Democrats last No
vember.