The Administration: Squared Off

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"This year," said President Kennedy, "or certainly as inevitably as the tide comes in, next year, this bill is going to pass." Retorted American Medical Association President Leonard Larson: "This bill will be defeated. You may see the end of this in the 87th Congress." Thus, last week, the Administration and the A.M.A. squared off for a fight over the President's program to provide medical care for the aged under social security. In their claims and counterclaims, both sides seemed partly wrong. The King-Anderson bill, as the program is known, is unlikely to pass Congress this year, and maybe not next. But neither is it going to disappear—and it will certainly be around in November as a major election issue.

The King-Anderson bill is scheduled to come before the powerful House Ways and Means Committee soon—and the prospects look bleak for the Administration. As of last week, the committee stood 15 to 10 against reporting the bill out, with ten Republicans and five Democrats, including Chairman Wilbur Mills, opposed to the measure. Only a change of heart by Arkansas' Mills figures to get the bill through—and Mills has already resisted all sorts of Administration pressures, including frequent phone calls from President Kennedy and political action by Administration followers back home.

A Few Lessons. Mills believes the King-Anderson program would alter the philosophy and jeopardize the future of the entire social security system. Moreover, he was co-sponsor of the existing Kerr-Mills Act, whose provisions for medical care are backed by the A.M.A.

Even if the Ways and Means Committee pigeonholes the King-Anderson bill, it can still be brought to the House floor by a discharge petition or by tacking it onto another tax bill as an amendment.

The chances for either action are slim; with all the contradictory pressures and emotions aroused by King-Anderson, most House members are very willing to let it rest in Ways and Means. As for President Kennedy, he feels he can hardly lose, no matter what happens. If the bill passes the House, he can claim a great victory. If it does not, he intends to heap all the blame on the Republicans, even though he has a lopsided Democratic majority. Last week, in an all-out effort to make the nation aware of its efforts, the Administration gave the A.M.A. a few lessons in the art of rough and tumble propaganda.

"Give Us Your Help." The highlight of the Administration drive came when President Kennedy addressed 20,000 people—most of them elderly—at a Madison Square Garden rally. Speaking over all three major TV networks (he was granted free time on the absurd theory that his speech was nonpolitical), the President charged the A.M.A. with failure to understand the King-Anderson bill, even went so far as to equate opposition to the bill with opposition to social security. Asked he of his audience: "Come and give us your help."