Learning to Live with Congress

Lyndon Johnson had trouble enough with the 90th Congress, even though his own party controlled both houses. Richard Nixon, facing a Capitol Hill controlled by the opposition, will have to be a consummate politician if he is to get anything but misery from the 91st. Wisconsin's Melvin Laird, chairman of the House Republican Conference, concedes that the next President "will have to be the greatest salesman of the century" to get his programs across. While the real test of his powers of persuasion will not come for months, Nixon's moves so far have been calculated to make the best of a very tough situation.

His choice of Bryce Harlow as chief congressional liaison man was one shrewd step. A former congressional staff member, White House aide in the Eisenhower Administration and lobbyist for Procter & Gamble, Harlow is widely known and respected by legislators of both parties. But more important than any staff appointment to date has been Nixon's determined effort to establish rapport with Chairman Wilbur Mills of the House Ways and Means Committee. With his almost total power over taxes, social security policy and related issues, Mills will be the single most important legislator in determining the success or failure of Nixon's domestic programs.

Small Triumph. Several times since the election, Nixon has telephoned Mills for "friendly" chats. Last week he had the Arkansas Democrat in for an hour's conversation. If the courtship so far has not produced any grand entente, it has at least created a promising air of cooperation and potential compromise. "We'll try to work out some degree of compatibility," said the Congressman, "that will make it possible for us to legislate."

What Mills decided not to say was of greater significance. After his meeting with Nixon, he addressed a meeting of the National Association of Manufacturers. The advance text of his speech contained sharp criticism of Nixon's proposals to use tax incentives for private enterprise as a principal means of curing social and physical blight in the slums. Mills dropped this portion of his talk. Instead, he said he would consider specific measures along the lines Nixon proposes--if Nixon can persuade him that they are the most efficient way of handling particular problems.

Mills, naturally, made no commitments; Nixon has yet to make concrete legislative requests. But in view of Mills' previous opposition to the concept of using tax breaks instead of direct spending for social purposes, the fact that he announced himself as now open to the idea was something of a triumph for the incoming Administration. Throughout the campaign Nixon had stressed his reliance on the private sector in coping with domestic problems as the principal difference between his approach and the Democrats'. Mills himself is no big spender. His insistence on economies as the price for enacting the income tax surcharge last June caused a lengthy deadlock with Lyndon Johnson. But Mills opposes tax remission as "backdoor spending," a bookkeeping gambit that can reduce the tax base and make the federal budget even more misleading than it already is.

No Grand Schemes. One factor that helped to mollify Mills was Nixon's apparent agreement that any tax breaks allowed to private industry--to subsidize job training for the unemployed, for in-AP stance--be listed in the budget as expenditures. Also, when Mills preached to Nixon on the virtues of an austere spending program and the vices of cooking the books, he found a receptive audience. Of course, one comfortable talk does not necessarily ensure protracted harmony between a Republican President and a Democratic Congress. Mills, for instance, still opposes Nixon's proposal to gear increases in social security benefits to rises in the cost of living. At least three other areas of dispute are already discernible:

sbDEFENSE SPENDING. If Nixon insists on a large-scale buildup of military strength to close what he has called the security gap, he will likely run into heavy opposition, particularly in the Senate.

sbTHE SPACE PROGRAM. Nix on has been a vigorous advocate of space exploration.

Congress is likely to pick

space as a target for retrenchment rather than expansion.

sbTHE INCOME TAX SURCHARGE. Scheduled to expire June 30, the 10% surcharge worth more than $10 billion a year, will be crucial in budgetary considerations. Nixon would like to see it ended, but on the other hand he is pledged to check inflation. Mills and other fiscal conservatives who initially opposed the tax now argue that it may be necessary to keep it unless Government spending is reduced.

Other issues will emerge as Nixon presents his detailed proposals and as Democratic leaders more liberal than Mills seek to produce their own alternatives. So far, the Democrats have unveiled no grand schemes for the 91st Congress. Their main effort may well be to preserve and finance Great Society programs. Nixon is now in the process of determining how much he can safely demand--and how he can get the opposition to meet him halfway.

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