THE CONGRESS: Losses and Gams

President Truman's Fair Deal Program lost more ground than it gained in Congress last week.

One day the President said that he still wanted a $4 billion tax increase. Next day, the House Ways and Means Committee, which originates all tax bills, promptly put the measure on ice. North Carolina's conservative, old (85) Robert L. ("Muley") Doughton, the committee chairman, wanted to wait & see if a slump really was developing.

In the Senate, the Administration's attempt to give the Taft-Hartley Act a swift knockout collapsed. The Labor and Public Welfare Committee had been holding day & night sessions to speed the repealer bill, finally had to extend public hearings for two more weeks. It was a serious blow to labor. Many labor contracts will come up for renegotiation in April, and labor had hoped that by then a modified Wagner Act would have replaced the Taft-Hartley Act on the books. That now looked unlikely.

The Administration did make some gains. The House:

¶ Voted 319 to 69 to give the President two years more to arrange additional agreements with other countries for reciprocal tariff cuts.

¶ Approved 356 to 9 the Reorganization Bill, which would enable the President to shake up the Executive Department as proposed by the Hoover Commission.

The Senate:

¶ Extended until June 30, 1951 the presidential authority to license and control exports of scarce materials.