THE NATION: Ready for the Brawl

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As he packed his bags to return to Washington, Dallas' Republican Representative Bruce Alger looked grimly forward to the second session of the Democratic 85th Congress. "I foresee bitterness and hatefulness," he said last week. "We are going to squabble and fight and make the world think we hate each other and that we can't solve our problems. We are going to have bigger and bigger budgets, higher taxes, more Government spending at home and abroad, and more inflation accompanied by deficit financing. Happy New Year!"

Congressman Alger's view, of the horizon may have been unduly clouded, but few of his colleagues who will move up to Capitol Hill for the opening of Congress next week were much more optimistic about the prospects. They are largely the same men who marched down the Hill only four months ago, but they are coming back to a different world. Inflation has changed to recession; the unassailable Eisenhower is under heavy assault; big talk of economy has changed to big talk of defense spending; and the air of smug superiority has yielded to the very real threat of Russian technological leadership. Before it met, the new session had a nickname: "The Sputnik Congress." And it had a too obvious political motivation: laying out party lines for the congressional elections next November.

One Man's Show. With his customary skill, Senate Majority Leader Johnson has placed himself directly on top of the session's key issue. As chairman of the Senate Preparedness Subcommittee, he will sit as prosecutor and judge while the civilian and military brass from the Pentagon is summoned up to the Hill and cross-examined on U.S. defense shortfalls. The committee's report will have a strong impact on what Congress does about defense. Working closely with Texas' Johnson in the defense area will be the chairmen of the House and Senate Military Appropriations Subcommittees, Texas' Representative George Herman Mahon and New Mexico's Senator Dennis Chavez. Backing them up will be a man who has for years played a big role in the military deliberations of Congress, Georgia's Senator Richard Russell. Together they will attempt to take control of the defense program out of the hands of General Dwight Eisenhower, whose leadership in that field was once unchallenged.

When it is not busied with defense, Congress will have to make major decisions in a wide range of legislation. Items:

FOREIGN AID. The Administration will seek substantial increases, particularly in military support. Despite the obvious argument for such aid as a corollary to defense, the first rumblings from returnees to the Hill indicate trouble. Among the probable troublemakers: Louisiana's Otto Passman, chairman of the House appropriations subcommittee that controls the Mutual Security purse strings, a bitter foe of foreign aid.

TRADE. With the reciprocal trade agreements expiring next June 30, the Administration will push for a five-year extension and some liberalization. The prospect is for a long, bitter fight, beginning in the House Ways and Means Committee (now chaired by Arkansas' Representative Wilbur Mills), continuing on the floor of both houses, probably ending in little more than a one-year extension of the present agreements.