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Show Congress : Weak Link Autumn has arrived and Wess has departed for the That it should be this without acting on the President's recom-mendations recom-mendations for funding govern gov-ern operations in the fis- Jr begun three weeks ago disservice to the nation and "'economy. J" THERE is no assur- 21 lhat the long-delayed S "Is will be passed rk Junng the three-week -Juck session of Congress convened Nov. 29. Perchance Democrats enough gains in the com- e c, (o gjve (hem d W be'ter margins in the or House, or both, their -nay well be to pass ' irrml more controversial , rPnat,ons hills until the Wrvonirehss crvenes in eL hen lhey would a better chance ofover-an!' ofover-an!' presidential vetoes. nsaSrrcras,ination--fr W rrea,SOT1"'s harmful to i public confi- Although more sophis- Jearl,er vSme than ! C s ears' lne attitude of ' is i ,Ward bui mat" i iM,oh, 11 amazingly casual Co 'A ln which the Po-er Sr k haLS vested the Co nil 6 Public Pse. proj' g Jh the vaunted with respect to the national budget weakens the efficacy of legislation at the federal level. LATEST economic data indicate in-dicate that the embryo business busi-ness recovery is just that and has not yet progressed beyond a quite tentative stage. Public confidence is conspicuous by its absence except in the stock market, with the beginnings of betterment in the economy not yet clinched. Six weeks ago it was thought that lower interest rates would bring a turn for the better in consumer buying and spark a business recovery. Interest rates did come down butunemployment worsened. Net result: No appreciable improvement in consumer buying though federal fed-eral withholding taxes were reduced re-duced and Social Security payments pay-ments boosted July 1. Why? Partly because of the uncertainty uncer-tainty over what Congress will do about spending for the cur-rent cur-rent '83 fiscal year, and beyond. ALTHOUGH Congress is a weak link in the governing triumvirate-Executive. Legislative, and Judicial in Washington, especially in budcet matters, it is not wholly to blame for the consequences. Presidential proposals even when enthusiastically sent to Capitol Hill for consideration are all too seldom followed up consistently. Hence, they are often not taken seriously or just do not attract the measure of support they might with a foreceful White House follow-through. follow-through. Nor does Congress receive from the public enough expressions ex-pressions of interest in particular particu-lar legislation to be of real help in guiding it toward sensible, popularly accepted legislation. This kind of public expression, especially when unencumbered unencum-bered by the emotional heart generated by extra controversial controver-sial topics, would be helpful to Congress not only in arriving at specific decisions but in speeding up the entire legislative legisla-tive process. Sometimes it is not forthcoming because of public inertia or because citizen opinion is unformed. THE ECONOMY will fare better in the months just ahead, but the improvement will not come with a bang. President Reagan's economic program appears to be in a shambles, his influence on Capitol Hill and around the nation na-tion watered down from a year ago. Hence, there will probably prob-ably be more Democrats in Congress next year than there are now. Yet progress will still be made toward many conservative conserva-tive Reagan goals, albeit sometimes some-times fitfully. His block grant and new federalism ideas have wider appeal than appears on the surface. Despite recession and unemployment, the hard core of his following is pretty well intact no matter what you hear about right-wing defections. |