THE CONGRESS: The Pill

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The House mixed the taxpayers a heady drink—and slipped Harry Truman a mild Mickey Finn.

The treat for the taxpayers was a House bill which cut the Federal budget almost one-third by canceling $52 billion of authorized expenditures. The biggest savings were in the appropriations for the Army (cut $30.9 billion) and the Navy (cut $17.6 billion).

The bitter pill in Harry Truman's drink was a rider which ordered the return of United States Employment Service to state control within 30 days. It pointedly ignored the President's "urgent" recommendation that the control of USES be retained by the Federal Government "at least until . . . June 30, 1947" and that its appropriation be increased by $10 million.

Lean, grey Majority Leader John W. McCormack led Administration supporters in an eight-hour floor battle to knock out the rider. When it was over, Republicans and Southern Democrats gave their answer, approved it 162-10-101. The vote was the heaviest ever cast against a proposal by Harry Truman.