A Dual Responsibility

Required by law to send his fiscal 1958 budget to Congress last January, Dwight Eisenhower soon made it clear that his Administration was still trying to find ways to shave the record-breaking $71.8 billion. Later, after Treasury Secretary George Humphrey set off a clamorous flap by predicting that big budgets would lead to a hair-curling depression, President Eisenhower passed the hot budget potato to Congress, saying that it was the "duty" of Congressmen to cut spending--if they possibly could. The House of Representatives tossed the potato right back with a resolution asking the President to point out budget economies. Last week President Eisenhower did just that: he sent House Speaker Sam Rayburn an unprecedented letter suggesting possible cuts of more than $1.8 billion--and deftly plunking the potato back into the lap of Congress.

Fiscal ABCs. The President's letter actually was written by Budget Director Percival Brundage as a result of the continuing study that Ike had originally promised. Moreover, it was fully approved by Humphrey, who thought it was just "fine." It began with some fiscal ABCs that Congress well understands but the general public probably does not: "The 1958 budget, as all Federal budgets, is in effect two budgets within one."

One part is for actual spending during fiscal 1958. It consists of 1) about $45 billion for "programs related to the protection of our country"; 2) about $17.6 billion required by previously passed laws --veterans' pensions, interest on the public debt, etc.; and 3) about $9 billion for the operation of Government departments and such activities as public health.

The other category of the two-in-one budget is for legislative authority under which federal agencies can obligate themselves for future expenditures. It was in this area that the President thought most cuts could be made. Items:

P: New spending authority for Army procurement and production might be cut by $516 million--but it would be a bookkeeping switch, with the entire $516 million added to "the large amount that will have to be authorized for Army procurement and production in fiscal year 1959."

P: New spending authority for military public works (a juicy morsel in the congressional pork barrel), down by $200 million by "delaying less urgent projects."

P:New spending authority for the soil-bank program, down by $254 million because farmer enrollment has not come up to original estimates.

P: Investments of the Federal National Mortgage Association down by $50 million and authorizations for the college housing program down by $25 million (both "Fanny May" and college housing are congressional pets).

P: New spending authority for the Corps of Engineers (in charge of many of the home-state construction programs beloved by Congressmen), down $13 million.

P: Budgeted contingent expenses, down by $300 million (a total of $500 million had been budgeted to cover undeterminable emergencies, e.g., a possible need for $2,000,000 for spraying western drought areas against grasshoppers).

P: New spending authority for military assistance under the Mutual Security Program, down by $500 million because "lead-time financing has been reduced--notably for spare parts--[some] maintenance support . . . has been eliminated, and items have been removed from grant-aid which countries can now pay for themselves." Ike's military-assistance cut was a real concession to the congressional economy spree and a clear effort to forestall whacks with an even heavier meat ax.

Having suggested specific cuts, the President pointedly turned to steps the Congress might take to "improve the Federal budgetary situation." He zeroed in on that granddaddy of all pork barrels, the rivers and harbors bill, by urging Congress to "reject new projects not approved by the Board of Engineers," to provide for "more local participation in approved projects,?' and to "withhold authorization and construction of all but urgently needed projects." He asked Congress to "establish interest rates for Government loan programs that will induce private funds to participate in their financing." He plugged for postal-rate increases and argued for user charges (levied against plane operators) on federal airway facilities.

Unique Acceptance. Perhaps most important of all, President Eisenhower asked for the right to veto specific items in appropriations bills instead of having to sign or veto the bills in their entirety. The item veto would be a mortal blow to the congressional pork barrelers--and they are certain to resist it with all their might.

The new budget message was a unique acceptance of second-time-around budgetary responsibility, and was calculated to cut spending by about $600 million in fiscal 1958 and even more in future years. But the message was more than that: it was an all-out Administration effort to recapture the lead in the budget-cutting uproar touched off by the Humphrey flap. Moreover, it was a unique way of dramatizing the fact that Congress too has an impelling duty to act responsibly.

Yet Congress still seemed more interested in the political possibilities of budget-cutting. No sooner had he received the President's letter than Speaker Sam Rayburn renewed his talk about tax cuts. A top Democrat reacted to the message with a sneer: "It don't amount to a sneeze in a cyclone."

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