Dead, Dying or Doubtful

I think we can elect a Democratic President, a Democratic House and a Democratic Senate, and I think when that is done this country can begin to move again.

--Candidate John Kennedy, Sept. 7, 1960

Last week Kennedy was in the White House, and the Democrats held overwhelming control of the Congress--against 35 Republicans in the Senate (one vacancy), 263 to 174 in the House. The result so far during the 1962 session of Congress: of some 50 bills, both major and of lesser importance, sent to the Hill with the Administration's imprimatur, only one of any real substance has passed. That was a $435 million program to retrain unemployed workers for new jobs--and it was so modified by Republican-sponsored amendments that the G.O.P. could reasonably call the measure its own. As for the rest of the New Frontier legislative program, it is either dead, dying, or in deep doubt.

Last week came a real crusher in the humiliating House defeat of the Administration's farm program (see following story). In the hope that a farm-bill victory would set off a bandwagon movement for the rest of the Kennedy program, the Administration pulled out all the stops. "If we can pass the farm bill" said House Majority Leader Carl Albert,"it vill be downhill the rest of the session." But after the House vote, everything seemed to be slanting up. The Administration's plan for medical care for the aged was stalled in the House Ways and Means Committee. At best, the future seemed dubious for tax revision this year. Even the best and boldest of the Administration's proposalsi--its plan for liberalizing foreign trade--seemed in danger.

Down the Line. What has happened since those good old days of talking about how a Democratic President and a Democratic Congress could get things moving again? Part of the answer lies with the Democratic leadership on the Hill. Senate Leader Mike Mansfield is a fine gentlemanly fellow--maybe too much so for the hard political demands of his job. As for the House leaders--Speaker John McCormack. Carl Albert and Whip Hale Boggs&$151;they have yet to prove that they can even count noses before the vote comes.

But the Administration has brought much of its trouble upon itself with its passion for political maneuvers and power plays. In his public statements. President Kennedy repeatedly has urged Republicans to join with Democrats in "the national interest." But at the same time, he has sometimes seemed to be seeking more to embarrass Republicans in an election year than to achieve legislation. Prime examples are the President's medical care bill and his abortive effort to create a Cabinet-level department of urban affairs. Result: Republicans have reacted against Kennedy's programs with a party-line unanimity rare in recent history.

Defecting Democrats. But Republican hostility cannot alone account for the dismal 1962 legislative record: there are more than enough Democrats to put the Administration's program across--if they would. Inevitably, many Southern Democrats have tended to side with the Republicans. Still other Democrats have reacted against Administration political pressures. And even more realize that the President is more popular than his programs with the folks back home. Nearly 200 House Democrats ran ahead of Kennedy in their districts in 1960, and they think they know better than he does what their constituents want.

During next fall's election campaign, President Kennedy is certain to urge the election of even more Democrats to Congress. And he may get them. But on the basis of the record to date, that will not necessarily ensure legislative success for the New Frontier.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.