Second Thoughts

As leader of the Great Society, Lyndon Johnson tuned the 89th Congress to produce just the sound he wanted: "Aye." The result was the most expansive and expensive outpouring of domestic legislation in U.S. history. This week "the fabulous 89th"--as Johnson likes to call it--convened its second session after a 78-day recess. This time the going will not be so easy. Well-rested and strengthened by pulse-feeling back home, the Congress returns to Washington far less docile and far more doubtful than when it left. Some legislators believe, in fact, that the 89th's second session could become one of the roughest in recent history.

The main point of contention will be the increasingly heavy economic burden imposed by the stepped-up war in Viet Nam. Even before the new session began, Republicans and Democrats alike were having second thoughts about where the money would come from to finance both war and welfare. "We've got a war on our hands," said Senate G.O.P. Leader Everett Dirksen of Illinois, who celebrated his 70th birthday last week, "and I think some of these domestic programs can be scaled down." Warned Arkansas Democrat John McClellan, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee: "We are going to have to retrench and hold down new programs until the budget is under better control."

Vulnerable Targets. The matter will get a full airing when Johnson's request for a $12.5 billion supplemental appropriation for the Viet Nam war reaches Capitol Hill. That request is not likely to be denied, but it will spark a hot debate between those who favor increasing the U.S. involvement in Viet Nam at the expense of Great Society programs, and those who, like Michigan's Democratic Senator Philip Hart, feel that "we have two wars on our hands, and we can't afford to lose either." As Republicans press for cuts in domestic spending, there is bound to be a series of bitter "guns or butter" appropriations battles. Among the more vulnerable targets for cuts: the space program, the Appalachian Regional Development Act, the Area Redevelopment program, the housing bill's rent-subsidy plan, and virtually any public works that can be dropped without too loud a political uproar.

Once the Viet Nam appropriation is out of the way, Congress will turn to forensics in earnest. It will deal with little brand-new legislation (one possible exception: a moderate civil rights bill providing for more equitable ways of empaneling juries in Southern trials), but the leftovers from the first session are controversial enough to keep the drama high. The Administration has promised labor to continue its fight to repeal Section 14(b) of the Taft-Hartley Act, which permits states to pass laws banning union shops; Ev Dirksen, who held off the Administration's attempts in the first session, still opposes repeal and will filibuster to prevent its passage. Bills to increase and extend the minimum wage and to standardize unemployment compensation are also bound to cause debate. Other potentially mettlesome issues: Electoral College reform, home rule for the District of Columbia, and funding the Teacher Corps.

Two Jobs. In the Senate, all eyes will be on Democratic Whip Russell Long of Louisiana, who is scheduled to become chairman of the Finance Committee in place of Virginia's Harry Byrd, who resigned from the Senate in November because of ill health. Long will be the first man in memory to hold both jobs, but Senate friends say that he has his eye on yet another job: the Senate majority leadership, now held by Montana's unassertive Mike Mansfield. "We all love Mike," says one Democratic Senator, "but many of us don't like the way he runs the Senate. With Long, you always know where he stands, because he's not afraid to sound off on issues."

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