Head Winds on the Hill

Just after the Eisenhower legislative program hit cruising speed on Capitol Hill last fortnight, it ran into fog and head winds in both the House and the Senate. On six bills the Administration suffered telling setbacks, all of them affecting major Eisenhower policies. The six:

Health Insurance. The biggest blow was the House defeat of the President's request for a $25 million reinsurance fund to back up non-Government health insurance plans, e.g., Blue Cross and similar organizations. This was an important item: a week before the bill reached the House, Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare Oveta Gulp Hobby, after being introduced by the President, plugged it in a nationwide broadcast from the White House. G.O.P. leaders had expected the bill to pass easily. But when the votes were counted, 162 Democrats, 75 Republicans and Ohio's Independent Frazier Reams had joined in recommitting it.

A strange combination of factors contributed to the defeat: 1) the American Medical Association opposed the bill on the grounds that it meant more "Federal Government control"; 2) the C.I.O. opposed it because it was "inadequate"; 3) a number of Republicans opposed it simply to show their independence of able, vigorous Majority Leader Charlie Halleck, who has been skillfully steering the Eisenhower program through the House. A minor revolt had been brewing against Halleck for some time, primarily because he had pushed House Republicans so hard on the tax and farm programs; the health insurance plan looked like only a relatively important bill and also a chance to spit in Charlie's eye.

Social Security. Going against the President's wishes, the Senate Finance Committee decided to make social security voluntary for physicians, dentists, lawyers, farmers and other self-employed groups. The Administration bill, already passed by the House, made coverage compulsory for all these groups except physicians.

Subversives. Two Administration bills designed to tighten U.S. security were pigeonholed. The President wanted laws giving the Government authority to 1) bar suspected spies from defense plants, and 2) dissolve Communist-led unions and other organizations. The House Judiciary Committee killed the bills, called for more study.

Appropriations. The House Appropriations Committee, in its most rebellious mood of this session, recommended a 39% cut in a $2 billion supplemental appropriations bill. If the House adopts the committee recommendation, the biggest losers will be military public works, civil defense, merchant shipbuilding and hospital construction.

Housing. A conference committee of the House and Senate authorized 35,000 new housing units during the next fiscal year, but five members of the committee said even this could not be attained. Reason: the bill provides that housing can be built only to replace structures torn down in slum clearance and urban redevelopment plans.

At week's end the Eisenhower program was bruised and shaken up, but still moving forward. Both the program and the Congress had a long way to go. Last week Congress also:

P: Voted, in the Senate, to set up a system of liberalized loans (up to $15,000) and credit for drought-stricken farmers and cattlemen. Some pressing drought conditions: Georgia may lose 75% of its corn crop, 50% of its tobacco crop; farmers in irrigation districts of West Texas and New Mexico, needing three acre-feet of water, have been allotted five inches.

P: Approved, in a Senate-House conference committee, a tax deduction of up to $600 a year for parents for the expense of caring for their children while they work. Cost to the government: $130 million.

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