Show 0 national to topics P acs ics interpreted by william bruckart national Nai lonal press buhning BuH jing washington D C washington the record of 0 the seventy fifth congress has been fully written and a no vo congress backward look of like it a few weeks give s one the impression that probably there never was a congress like it certainly I 1 can say without equivocation that I 1 have seen nothing like it in the 20 years that I 1 have served as a washington observer the seventy fifth has been almost constantly in session since january 1937 there were two regular sessions long ones and there was that so called extraordinary session of last november 15 which succeeded completely in one task only the matter of the traveling expenses which are voted the members when they come to washington they got that money in a hurry even though the 20 days of actual meetings proved insufficient for any other legislative isla tive act but for a serious review of the seventy fifth let us set down these facts it spent more money than any other congress in peacetime history that Is it voted more appropriations it spent more time talking than nearly any other congress that I 1 recall and there were fewer laws passed I 1 believe than the record of any other congress shows for the latter condition I 1 suppose we might be thankful for there is now and always has been too many laws on our statute books there has never been a congress peacetime or otherwise which indulged in so many many political acrobatic stunts the start of the first session was completely under president Roosevel ts domination there came the tight fight over enlargement of the supreme court and the senate went into full cry against the president there was another stage when the house and senate both were using the rawhide on the executive branch then the other day before adjournment they voted a gigantic pot of gold for presidential spending and followed that by overriding a veto consider this action if you want t to 0 find something that really represents perfection in backward somersaults late last year congress rejected the wage and hour bill and fought oil off the so called antl anti lynch ing bill with a fervor that was good to see it rejected the presidents plan for reorganization of the government and did it quite vigorously but it found a new spring board and jumped off into passage of I 1 a wage and hour bill for the nation which the president wanted very much as a sop to labor it had in the meantime passed a tax bill so contrary to the presidents wishes and so objectionable to his theories of taxation that he refused to sign it true it became a law but it was the first time mr roosevelt had allowed an act of congress to go across his desk without either his signature or his veto these things might be considered to have represented a vast amount of independence except that as the time approached for adjournment the members took mr Roosevel ts proposal for appropriation of another for lending and spending and gave him a free hand in spending it they had been doing that before but the significant thing was that the members faced with a wide open opportunity refused to tree free themselves from presidential ident ial domination it will be remembered how four amendments were offered to the spending lend ing bill each designed to prevent use of the relief funds in politics and those amendments were defeated in the senate they took those votes in the very midst of tirades about mixing relief and politics and attempts of the administration to lick unfriendly democratic senators and representatives in the party primaries indeed it seems to me that they actually voted the president powers with which to force new deal opponents into line on his programs As a result of all of the flow of money authorized in the seventy fifth congress it enormous enormous seems a fair guess deficit to say that the na dional debt by the end of june next year will approximate that will represent an increase in the national debt of 27 billions in six years it Is an increase in the debt that exceeds the world war debt itself the fie deficit for the year which has just ended was disastrously large for forst a year in which there had been earlier announcements by mr roosevelt and others that the budget would be balanced in view of the appropriations made in the last session I 1 think that a deficit in the fiscal year that ends june 30 1939 is a fair prediction nor is the end sn in sight have you rioted noted how little tails there was in the waning days of the last session of congress about any plan to balance the budget folks congress never gave it a thought though tl it was intent upon getting money voted because business conditions were bad and there were too many votes that could be had for a little relief job or a little relief check something which congress cant very well wel I 1 deny even though the members hide behind the presidents ample frame by saying that mr roosevelt asked for the money with respect to the nations financial condition it seems to me it Is high time to be worried congress and tile the administration ought to be worried until there are deep creases in their collective brow and there are some who are worried men like sen ben carter glass the virginia democrat who knows something about finances since he was once secretary of the treasury senator glass appears to fear a collapse is approaching As an indication of how far into the depths the nation has fallen financially atten jobs and tion may be dl di pensions erected at several minor circumstances which taken singly mean little it but which taken collectively bulk large the seventy fifth congress added something like new names to the pension rolls while these names were being added through passage of pension bills in a steady stream new bureaus and the consequent bundle of new jobs were being created by congress at the request of the president or sometimes just because a senator or a representative had the idea those jobs of course carry salary checks they are jobs scattered throughout the country in many instances field offices they are designated igna ted it goes without saying that each office had to be fully staffed and so there were clerks hired here and there most of the new jobs were not placed under civil service by the he laws which congress enacted and so they constituted political plums to be picked when most needed in a campaign year and no review of the seventy fifth congress ought to omit an item that seldom has been noted in the history of earlier congresses the representatives and senators met so many times and talked so much when in session that a month ago they had to increase the appropriation for publishing the congressional record the official newspaper proceedings in congress the appropriation a mere mer e drop of in the vast sea of expenditures being only was necessary the government printing office reported because the last 8 session of the seventy fifth congress used up up about more pages than had been estimated as needed for the session one really Is not being facetious or humorous at all in saying that really has gone with the wind sor so we have seen a congress in which the president in his 1938 1936 election achieved a stupendous majority look to that president for guidance in a most subservient fashion we have watched it seek his innermost thoughts and strive to execute his ideas none thought I 1 believe that there was ever a possibility of a revolt yet it did revolt it fought back and won ivon on an a number of occasions only to turn again to him in the final hours when an election is in the offing and where scores of members believed that only the presidents personal popularity would carry them through unique is hardly the word to describe the seventy fifth personally I 1 think the seventy fifth probably passed out of existence with a record that Is not equalled equal led for slime cowardice and petty politics and thus the members go into their biennial dance to attract votes they have started their circuses already in many contested areas some primary battles already are behind us and others lie only a few short weeks ahead political Poll fences are awaiting new posts and new promises have to be made it will be a funny story if and when it ever can be pieced together which of course it never will we here in washington have lis bened to the demagoguery almost two solid year you folks out there can have them for awhile I 1 hope the office seekers tell the truth about their jobs in washington I 1 sometimes think lt would be a vote get ting tind program for a candidate for the house or the senate to go out and tell exactly what has been done how little worthwhile I 1 mean and then to follow that with a declaration that he was going to go back it if reelected elected re and see to it that a real service for the nation Is performed that be refreshing 0 western newspaper uni union on |