What & How Much?

When he had finished talking foreign policy with congressional leaders last week, President Eisenhower turned to a domestic topic that is very much on his mind. Said he: "Inflation is a great hazard. There will be pressures on you in Congress to increase spending. Congress must resist this trend. It is up to Congress to hold the line just as it is our responsibility here."

One day earlier the President had met with Republican leaders, paraded his Cabinet before them for a preview of requests to come. Health, Education and Welfare's Marion Folsom sought last session's ill-fated school-construction program, this time asked to have the $2 billion job done in four years instead of five. Attorney General Herbert Brownell Jr. asked for the same civil-rights program that was pigeonholed in the Senate Judiciary Committee last summer. Interior Secretary Fred Seaton forecast no change in the Administration's plan for developing natural resources through public-private "partnership" cooperation. One surprise: Postmaster General Arthur Summerfield laid out a request for all-inclusive 5-c- first-class mail to be carried by air on long hauls, by train for short drops.

But it was Treasury's George Humphrey and Budget Director Percival Brundage who put in a pitch for money. In fiscal 1958 (beginning next July 1) the U.S. budget will run about $72 billion, they warned, up $6 billion from the current year--but still in balance (perhaps with a surplus), thanks to expected increased revenues. Most of the hike in expenses will come in defense, with the 1958 military bill running more than $38.5 billion (v. $35.9 billion in 1957).

On the good news side of the ledger, Humphrey and Brundage predicted a surplus at the close of business next June 30 of $1.5 billion to $1.7 billion (estimate last January: a cautious $435 million). How about a tax cut? Said Humphrey dourly: Not a chance.

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