The Congress: New Game

"It's always been easy to kick Mississippi," noted an Administration aide. "But this is a new ball game." Just how new, Northern Congressmen discovered last week as the House began debate on the Johnson Administration's 1966 civil rights bill, the third such measure in as many years and the first to take aim at discrimination against Negroes in the North.

The stumbling block to many Northerners was the bill's Title 4, which was originally intended to outlaw racial discrimination in the sale and rental of all housing. To gain support from hesitant Congressmen,...