Work Done

Last week the Congress also:

> Approved, by a Senate vote of 69 to 17, the revival of some of the benefits enjoyed by service veterans of World War II and the Korean War. The new measure would give educational allowances and housing assistance to those who have served at least six months since the last G.I. bill lapsed on Jan. 31, 1955. Some 5,000,000 already would be eligible under the new bill. Opposed by the Administration, the bill would cost an estimated $1.9 billion through 1970. It now goes to the House.

> Voted, 410 to 0 in the House, for a $1 billion pay increase for the four military services, the Coast Guard and Public Health Service personnel. The amount is more than twice that recommended--or wanted--by the White House and the Pentagon. It is expected that the Senate will bring the pay raise closer to the Administration proposal, and that ultimately there will be a compromise between the average increase of 10.7% voted by the House and the 4.7% sought by the Administration.

> Prepared, in the Senate, for a tough fight over a proposed constitutional amendment that would counteract the Supreme Court's ruling that both houses of state legislatures must be apportioned strictly on a population basis. Senate Republican Leader Everett Dirksen has been battling for an amendment to allow one house to be apportioned on factors other than population, such as counties. Last week Dirksen prevented a vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee because the best he could have got was an eight-eight tie--which would have prevented a favorable report to the floor. After declaring "I am a determined man, I am playing for keeps," Dirksen sought to outflank the committee. He offered his amendment as a substitute for an unrelated measure (the designation of Aug. 31-Sept. 6 as National American Legion Baseball Week). He vowed: "If I get licked this time, I'll be here to hook it on any bill that comes before the Senate." His Democratic colleague from Illinois, Paul Douglas, pledged for the opposition: "We'll fight it out on this line if it takes all summer, all fall and all year." And Congress, of course, had been yearning for early adjournment.

> Passed, by a Senate voice vote, a bill making it a federal crime punishable by death to kill a President, President-elect, Vice President, and in the absence of a Vice President, the person next in line to succeed the President. The bill also makes it a federal crime to kidnap, assault and conspire to murder, abduct or injure any of these officials. The Warren Commission urged such legislation in its report on the assassination of President Kennedy. If Lee Harvey Oswald had lived, he could only have been tried under state law in Texas. The House has passed a similar bill and will now consider minor differences in the Senate measure.

> Renewed, by a Senate vote of 63 to 29, efforts to give the District of Columbia self-government. Congress presently controls the district's purse strings and exercises most other power, although the President appoints the District Board of Commissioners. Previous efforts to give the 800,000 Washingtonians control of their schools, police and other local services have died in the House District Committee. This year, however, under pressure from the Administration, the House may give the district the right to elect a mayor, city council and school board, and to set its own local taxes.

> Passed, by a Senate voice vote, an Administration plan to spend $90 million to develop and test high-speed, intercity rail facilities. If approved by the House, the three-year program is expected to be applied first in the congested corridor between Washington and Boston. The idea is to discover whether an appreciable part of the traveling public will leave the highways in favor of comfortable, modern trains that make frequent runs at speeds of between 100 and 150 miles an hour.

> Expressed, in the form of a resolution by the Senate Democratic Conference, the wish that Hubert Humphrey spend more time presiding over Senate sessions, as the Constitution says a Vice President should, and less time doing chores for the President. To this, exuberant Hubert remarked: "They want me around because they love me so much."

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