The Legislative Week

The Senate--

P: Passed a resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution whereby Congress would assemble in January instead of December and the President be inaugurated in January instead of March (see below), by vote of 73 to 2. (Resolution went to the House.)

P: Passed the Naval appropriation bill carrying some $316,000,000, of which $26,000,000 is for aircraft and naval aviation. (Bill went to joint conference.)

P: Passed the first deficiency bill carrying $423,000,000 to make up deficiencies in Federal appropriations for the current year. (Bill went to joint conference.)

P: Passed a bill offered by Senator Walsh to punish for contempt of court persons who leave the country and refuse to return to testify in court by confiscating their property to a value not greater than $100,000,* without debate or record vote. (Bill went to the House.)

The House--

P: Passed the first important public buildings bill since 1913, carrying $165,000,000 to be spent over a period of five years. The money is to be allocated by the Secretary of the Treasury and the Postmaster General** to communities in which buildings are most needed, but $50,000,000 is especially marked for the District of Columbia, by vote of 263 to 120. (Bill went to the Senate.)

P: Passed the War Department appropriation bill carrying $339,500,000 for 1926-27, of which $15,000,000 is for aviation and $50,000,000 for rivers and harbors. (Bill went to the Senate.)

P: Debated the Independent Offices Appropriations bill.

*This bill is aimed to catch in future any witnesses who might go abroad, as did several of those wanted by the Government in its oil suits.

**A new departure. Hitherto Congress has specified where and what buildings were to be built and for how much--a proceeding which produced the old "pork barrel practice," every Congressman angling to get a fine building for his community. It was recognized that the President would never sanction an old-fashioned pork barrell bill, and since many buildings are badly needed this bill was passed with Administration approval. It was passed by a parliamentary maneuver--suspension of the rules--which prevented the offering of amendments and cut down debate to less than an hour but required a two-thirds vote for passage. In Washington it is planned to build offices for the Department of Commerce, Bureau of Internal Revenue, Department of Agriculture and a repository for the national archives.