Trying to Avert a Collision

During a two-day visit to Florida last week, Gerald Ford took time out for 18 holes of golf in the Jackie Gleason Inverrary Classic tournament in Lauderhill. After flubbing shots in several sand traps, plunking one ball into a small pond, and missing putts all over the place, the President lamented that he was not doing very well. "About as well as you are doing with Congress?" one reporter asked. Replied Ford: "I'm going to do better with both."

Not necessarily. On the links, Ford ended up with a duffer's score of 100. Nor did he do notably better in trying to persuade Congress to go along with his proposals on a wide range of issues, from foreign policy (see following story) to tax reductions and energy conservation. The major fight was over Ford's three-stage, $3-per-bbl. hike in the tariff on imported oil. Congress had voted to postpone the hike for 90 days, and Ford had promised to veto the legislation. But to prevent the Senate from overriding the veto, he had to persuade four Senators to switch to his side.

Failed Strategy. Ford offered to let gasoline absorb most of the price increase in hopes of winning support from Eastern Republicans, who feared that the increase would send their constituents' heating bills soaring because the region depends so heavily on imported oil. But Ford was unwilling to go as far as some of them demanded. New York Senator Jacob Javits, for example, insisted that 80% of the burden of any price hike fall on gasoline. Moreover, Ford's offer upset Western Senators, whose constituents drive long distances and are most concerned about how Ford's program will affect the price of gasoline.

Ford also hoped to talk some conservative Southern Democrats into changing their votes. That strategy failed for a totally unanticipated reason: the conservatives' outrage over the intrusion of Vice President Nelson Rockefeller into the fight over making it easier to cut off Senate filibusters. Although Ford discussed the issue with Rockefeller, he was not directly involved in the Vice President's actions. One Administration lobbyist concluded that "a lot of conservatives are inclined to take out their frustrations on the President." At one point in the Senate debate, Louisiana Democrat Russell Long reddened with anger and declared: "I thought that I was going to help this Administration when possible. But I have grave doubts about any Administration that would countenance this sort of thing."

At week's end seven Democratic congressional leaders sat down with Ford in the Cabinet Room of the White House to propose a face-saving compromise. They hinted rather broadly that they were willing to let his veto stand I in exchange for a 60-day delay of two-thirds of the tariff increase--the $1 per bbl. that took effect at the end of last : week and the $1 scheduled for April 1. Ford would be left, however, with the $1 boost that took effect on Feb. 1. He promised to decide by early this week whether to accept a compromise or press on with the showdown over the veto.

The Democrats' objective in the tariff fight was to gain time to bargain with the President on comprehensive energy legislation. As an alternative to the President's program, Democrats last week proposed a plan that would raise the federal gasoline tax from the present 40 to 9-c- per gal. and give rebates to buyers of fuel-efficient cars (see ECONOMY & BUSINESS). Ford said that the Democrats' recommendations could "possibly be meshed with ours"--a sign that he agreed with Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield, who said of the President: "He can't carry the day alone. Neither can we. He's not an obdurate man; he's flexible. He's thrown out hints."

Indeed, in a speech in Hollywood, Fla., Ford backed off from his previous description of the oil-tariff boost as the linchpin of his program. Instead, he called the increase "an administrative action taken solely for the purpose of forcing the Congress to act." Just as pointedly, he softened his criticism of Congress, not delivering in the Florida speech his prepared remarks declaring that by failing to move swiftly Congress was pursuing a "course [that] could lead America to disaster."

Russian Roulette. Ford, however, may have occasion to dust off that accusation and hurl it at Congress before too long. Despite the need for fast action, liberal Democrats in the House last week ensured a prolonged fight over a tax bill. Their leaders were ready to speed through both chambers a $21.3 billion tax reduction--$5.3 billion more than the amount requested by Ford and more heavily weighted in favor of lower-income groups. But the young Democrats insisted on adding an amendment to repeal the oil-depletion allowance that would save the oil industry some $2.5 billion this year in taxes and has long been a favorite--and, until now, well-nigh invulnerable--target for congressional liberals. The amended bill passed the House by the enormous margin of 317 to 97. In the Senate, however, the oil-depletion amendment is certain to set off a long and acrimonious fight that might delay the tax cut until mid-April or even longer.

The action infuriated House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Al Ullman. Said he: "This is a serious tactical mistake. We are really playing Russian roulette with our own careers. What the people want is decisive leadership. Depletion is not even germane to this bill." If Congress is still wrangling over a tax measure in May, agreed another Democrat, "the President will be kicking our brains out."

With official Washington tangled in the machinations over taxes and oil, it was understandable if Ford sometimes thought about retiring instead of running for election next year. One day last week he reminded close associates that while still in Congress he had promised his wife Betty that they would return permanently to Grand Rapids in 1976. If Ford was serious, he had not passed the word to Rockefeller, who forcefully told reporters that "the President is bound to run" in 1976. But even Ford's associates did not take his remarks as final, only as the rather wistful musings of a President engaged in a frustrating fight to get his program through a Congress overwhelmingly controlled by the other party.

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