National Affairs: Roll Back the Barrel

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At a dinner party at Washington's elegant 1925 F Street Club one evening last week, Mrs. Karl Mundt was seated next to Postmaster General Arthur Summerfield. He asked after Senator Mundt, who was attending a night session of the Senate. Mrs. Mundt said the Senator (up for election next year) was downcast because of the Oahe Dam. Summerfield politely asked about the dam, and Mrs. Mundt rattled off the facts & figures. A $14 million appropriation for the South Dakota dam had been dropped from the 1954 budget, she told Summerfield, and it was a pity. After all, $16 million had already been expended on the dam, and to cancel the project now would amount to an awful waste. Summerfield promised to help. Afterward, he sent a strategic note to "the right hands" and $8,250,000 of the appropriation was restored.

Not every appropriation was so charmingly and successfully lobbied through. When the Army Civil Functions Appropriations, commonly known as the pork barrel, passed the House last week, it was a wan descendant of bygone pork barrels. The bill provided $412,391,600 for dams, bridges, other engineering projects dear to the hearts of Congressmen. With wondrous forbearance, the Representatives resisted the pressures and blandishments of lobbyists and constituents, bravely cut $86,250,000 from the already trimmed-down Eisenhower budget. It was $171,675,000 less than last year's pork appropriation. Congressional thrift touched off speculation about the pending foreign aid bill. If Congress is niggardly with funds for the Missouri River, Capitol observers asked, what will happen to appropriations for the Rhone?

Last week the House also:

¶ Voted unanimously to grant permanent U.S. residence to Polish Flyer Franciszek Jarecki, who liberated a MIG and himself in Denmark (TIME, May 11).

¶ Received from its Ways & Means Committee a bill to extend the maximum bonding period on whisky from eight to twelve years.

¶ Appropriated $1,974,171,570 for the Departments of Labor and Health, Education and Welfare.

The Senate:

¶ Approved the President's Reorganization Plan No. 2 to renovate the Agriculture Department.

¶ Extended the armed forces' doctor-dentist draft for two years, to July 1, 1955

¶ Repealed the "use it or lose it" leave law, and restored the right of Government workers to accumulate up to 60 days' annual leave. At the same time the bill prohibits 500 of the topmost Government officials from collecting cash settlements for unused vacations.