Show president roosevelt suggests invisible spending program means of financing work outside budget to keep keel national debt below 15 45 billions president Roosevel ts new invisible spending scheme knocked the old congressional crowd virtually speechless observed paul mallon veteran washington c columnist un inist recently hours afterward they had not regained their breath sufficiently to comment aloud mr air mallon does not exaggerate the invisible spending idea is one of the most amazing things ever to come out of often abaz ing washington to tell the story in n its chronological order you have to lo begin with that growing bogey the national debt tile legal debt limit though few people seem to know this is fixed by congress and it can be changed only by the will of congress 1 ress at present the limit is established at the national debt is now some c and it is slated lmh for a sharp rise next year the administration has apparent apparently aly abandoned all hope or of balancing the budget and has decided that continued and increasing deficit financing is a necessary an and d semi permanent part of our fiscal policy thus the president and his advisors have found themselves uncomfortably close to the point where it would be impossible to add to the debt and the government would have no way whatsoever of raising revenue beyond its income the obvious solution was to request that congress increase the debt limit but that as simple as it sounds the present congress has shown itself to be definitely economy minded at least by comparison with its immediate predecessors early this session representatives of the president sounded out leading congressmen on the possibility of swiftly and quietly passing a bill to boost the debt amit the answers they got were not reassuring consensus s seemed to be that the odds were well against the bill going through and that even if anite house pressure could turn tn ane trick it would only be done after a long and bitter fight fiolet that might prove definitely niely har harmful m to the administrations prestige and power outside the budget hence the invisible spending proposal the president has suggested a public works program to be financed outside the budget and as a result outside the regular national debt under it such federal undertakings as the TVA could raise money to an almost unlimited extent without worrying about the debt or present legal restrictions it is apparent that this would give the government unparalleled power over the money and credit of the nation some think it would pave the way for state socialism on a scale almost comparable to that of the totalitarian governments and naturally it would make the efforts of the economy bloc futile inasmuch as the debt dzat could remain stationary or might even be reduced at a time when deficit spending was actually on the increase just what congress is going to say to this proposal after it has had time to weigh Us its tremendous potentialities is problematical but a major battle on the floor of both branches seems an absolute certainty |