Work Done

Last week the Congress:

> Passed, in the House, an Administration bill to create a Cabinet-level Department of Housing and Urban Development. The vote was 217 to 184, comfortable enough for practical purposes but the closest squeeze of the year for one priority proposal for the Great Society. The bill now goes to the Senate, where its prospects are favorable. It would elevate to departmental status the Housing and Home Finance Agency and make its head man a Cabinet member. The present HHFA chief, Robert Weaver, a Negro, is the leading prospect for the new post.

> Passed a bill to cut federal excise taxes by $4.63 billion over the next 3 1/2 years. Effective the day after the President signs the bill this week will be cuts of some $1.75 billion, including a reduction to 7% of the 10% tax on cars (retroactive to May 15) and total repeal of the 10% tax on the retail price of jewelry, furs, cosmetics, toiletries, luggage, handbags, and the 10% tax on the manufacturer's price of air conditioners (also retroactive), business machines, sporting goods, phonograph records, musical instruments, television sets, radios, phonographs, photographic equipment and film (see U.S. BUSINESS).

> Approved, by a 68-to-20 vote in the Senate, a $3.24 billion foreign aid-authorization bill. Two major differences between the Senate bill and the House version remain to be ironed out in conference committee: the Senate, in an attempt to avoid a time-consuming annual legislative hassle, proposed that the same program be authorized for two years, not just one; the Senate also voted for the establishment of a 16-man committee to re-examine the entire aid program, with the thought of tying amount of aid to a percentage of the U.S. gross national product.

> Approved, in the House Armed Services Committee, a $1 billion pay raise for the military, more than double the Administration request. The raises would average 10.7%, compared with Administration-sought increases of 4.8%. For the first time since 1952, the largest increases would go to enlisted men and junior officers.

> Passed, in the Senate, a bill requiring that cigarette packages and cartons carry a warning: "Caution: Cigarette smoking may be hazardous to your health." A provision added to the bill, however, would prohibit the Federal Trade Commission and local or state governments from requiring any warning in cigarette advertisements during the next three years.

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