Battle Over a Billion

Fresh from nearly a month's vacation and eager to face the challenges of a new decade, members of the 91st Congress reconvened last week and got right to work--trying to pass a money bill that should have cleared their chambers in the spring of 1969. The bill is one that will fund most operations of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare for fiscal 1970, a year that began last July. It takes in almost all of the Government's aid to education, including funds for libraries, student loans, vocational training and ghetto schools. The congressional tardiness is already causing some colleges to be turned down when seeking loans and some school officials to say that they will have to cut their academic year short if the money does not reach them soon.

Where to Trim. The hang-up is largely political. Because the $19.7 billion bill is $1.1 billion more than President Nixon has requested, he considers it inflationary, and has promised to veto it when it reaches him, probably this week. It was passed by the Senate overwhelmingly (74 to 17) last week and sent to the House for approval of a minor amendment. Congressional Democrats, claiming that they already have cut $5.6 billion from Nixon's requests, rate education as an item of top national priority and prefer that the Administration trim somewhere else in the fight against inflation. Their argument is a shade too righteous, since $600 million of the education money is for aid to schools where large numbers of Government workers strain local facilities. These schools are not always among the most needy.

The bill also contains funds for such health programs as hospital construction and public health service grants to states. If the President does veto it, the battle will shift first to the House, where a two-thirds majority vote would be required to override the veto. It would then have to clear the Senate by the same margin. The fight is putting Republicans on the spot, too, because it is difficult to justify the reduction of $1.1 billion in health and education funds as vital to checking inflation in a nearly $200 billion budget. Republican Senator George Aiken, usually an Administration stalwart, speaks for many of his colleagues when he grumbles: "The President could have found a better bill to veto."

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