IMPORTANT U.S. BILLS PROSPER

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30368, 18 February 1964, Page 11

IMPORTANT U.S. BILLS PROSPER

[From FRANK OLIVER, NZ.P.A. Special Correspondent] WASHINGTON, February 14. tax-cut bill over which Mr Kennedy laboured for more than a year is as good as on the books. Some old-time observers of things Congressional are rubbing their eyes but still find it is true. . _ What is more, it is now expected by many people in Washington that it will be followed by a good civil rights bill before the summer and this in spite of the certainty of a Senate filibuster.

Optimism is rising so fast in Liberal Congressional ranks that it is even thought possible that a pretty good version of Medicare will also be on the statute book before the nation goes to the polls early in November. A good bill is in the machine and has the backing of some influential Republican Liberals. It is not only the astonishing progress of legislation in Congress that has surprised Washington but also what Arthur Krock in the “New York Times” calls the high level of debate in the House of Representatives, with particular reference to the civil rights measure. It may be

that Congress has been reading the public opinion polls that indicate the general public think it is time Congress reformed itself. However, some of the voting leads one to suspect that there are other reasons and that they have to do with every-day politics rather than an urgent desire for legislative reformation. What is sadly ironical is that it seems at least dubious

and at most highly unlikely that the results already achieved in Congress and others to come could not have been achieved so quickly, if at all, had John Kennedy still been in the White House. Southern Votes One reason for the tight alliance between Southern Democrats and their northern counterparts, the Republican Conservatives and middle-of-the-roaders, was that all Republicans felt they had a very good chance of taking a majority of Southern electoral votes from Mr Kennedy in 1964. This made them amenable to voting for things the southerners wanted. Sometimes legislators were voting less for the measures being debated than for southern votes next November.

But now that is all changed. There is a southerner in the White House and in that circumstance Republicans have automatically given up almost all hope of making inroads into the South in this year’s elections. This change, wrought by fate, is what reduced the Goldwater bandwaggon from a brisk trot to a painful crawl. The election must be won, many Republicans now consider, in the north and the west.

Thus it isn’t surprising that the Democratic leaders have been able to garner more Republican votes for the measures initiated by Kennedy,

but now Johnson-sponsored, than seemed possible a mere two months ago. The voting lists in Congress make very interesting reading these days. The Senate the passage of the tax bill, for instance, shows the “nay” lobby was peopled almost exclusively with ultra-Conservatives from the South and ultra-conservative Republicans, a mere 21 in all, against 77. for passage. While Mr Kennedy was alive, such a result was not dreamed of by anyone. In the House it has been much the same in discussions of the various clauses of the civil rights measure. Southern newspapers have been full of stories from Washington which say the same thing —'the South has lost on this or lost on that, day after day. As a result the heart of the bill is still there and, as one newspaper says, “still beating strongly.” The South had high hopes of beating the public accommodations section to pulp and now it promises to stay relatively intact.

Given Up Hope The South is definitely discouraged. Down there they have given up hope of getting what they consider a reasonable bill out of the House and their hopes are now vested in a Senate filibuster. The filibuster will come as sure as day follows night, but it is causing less concern than it did a few months ago. A good bill from the House is now assured and that, say the experts, cannot but have its effect not only on the filibusterers but on those who could break it if they would. The hope has been bom, and is being nurtured carefully that it may grow stronger, that after a group of southern senators have talked themselves hoarse reading newspapers, books and telephone books into the record to prevent a vote, that enough Republicans of the centre and Right who are now looking to other States than the South for victory next November will join the Liberals' of both parties to vote for closure and so cut .the throat of the filibuster.

The filibuster may yet be a. bust, says one wit. The House is expected to pass the Civil Rights Bill by Lincoln’s birthday and so, as the “New York Times” says, “do the honours and incidentally bring honour upon itself as a functioning legislature.” This, it is felt, cannot but have a moral effect on enough senators to get a similar decision in the upper chamber. As one' cautious optimist said: “It just could happen.”