Rush Hour

After House Republicans recently blocked a Democratic farm bill that called for high supports on corn, cotton and rice, Speaker Sam Rayburn angrily announced that no farm legislation would be forthcoming this session. Growled he: "We have been up and down this hill as many times as I care to go." But last week Mr. Sam was up the hill again, pushed there by political pressure from Southern planters, who knew that congressional failure to pass a farm bill would mean automatic cutbacks in next year's acreage allotments. The House, following Mr. Sam to the hilltop, last week passed a bill that 1) ends acreage controls on corn, provides a price-support floor of 65% of parity, subject to a farmers' referendum; 2) allows cotton farmers either 80% of parity with low-controlled acreage, or 65% with higher acreage, with a floor for all of about 27-c- a pound by 1962; 3) gradually cuts supports on rice to 65%. The Senate Agriculture Committee accepted the House bill, paved the way for quick passage before adjournment. Result: a crowning triumph for Agriculture Secretary Ezra Taft Benson.

Other action as Congress entered its closing days' rush:

P: The Senate passed (72-18) a compromise reciprocal trade bill representing a major Eisenhower victory. The Senate originally voted a three-year extension of reciprocal trade and 15% tariff-cutting authority a year for the President. The House gave Ike what he sought, i.e., five years and up to 25%. The compromise bill provides four years, up to 20%. P: The Senate overrode (69-20) Ike's veto of a minor bill raising basic wages at the Kittery (Me.)-Portsmouth (N.H.) Naval Shipyard to a $2.50-an-hour par with the Boston Naval Yard. The action marked the first time in six years that either congressional branch overrode an Eisenhower veto. Later, the House vote to override (202-180) was less than the necessary two-thirds, keeping intact the President's record of never having a vetoed bill passed into law.

P: The House, after complicated wrangling, scheduled a vote this week on the Kennedy-Ives labor bill (which neither party likes). Speaker Rayburn set the vote to shift blame for inaction on the bill from Democratic shoulders to Republican, i.e., he would blame the G.O.P. when a motion to suspend rules and take up Kennedy-Ives failed (as expected) to carry a two-thirds vote. To keep blame where it is now, Republicans introduced a new labor bill, prepared to vote against Kennedy-Ives, figured the new bill was a better explanation for doing so. P: Indiana's caveman Senator William Jenner, in a gallery play, declared Indiana wanted no part of an aid-to-education bill under debate. Passing a bill authorizing $1.5 billion to improve education in the sciences, the Senate also gaily adopted a Jenner amendment exempting Indiana from any benefits. P: Senate and House passed a tax law that trims $42 million in excise revenue, principally by lowering the admission tax on theater, movie, baseball and football tickets. Passed also: a tax bill that grants to small businessmen $260 million in fringe-benefit reliefs, e.g., speedier depreciation on equipment. P: The House approved and sent to the White House a humane-slaughter bill (TIME, Aug. 11), which requires that cattle, sheep, hogs and horses, before being killed, must be rendered unconscious.

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