Defeat For Roosevelt Tax Veto

Northern Advocate, 25 February 1944, Page 3

Defeat For Roosevelt Tax Veto

(11.30 a.m.) WASHINGTON, Feb. 24. The House of Representatives, by 299 to 95 votes, overrode President Roosevelt’s veto of the Tax Bill. The Senate is expected to act similarly tomorrow. A conference of Democratic Senators unanimously re-elected Senator Barkley as majority leader, and Senator Barkley accepted. The House vote, which was one of the worst legislative setbacks Mr. Roosevelt has ever suffered, is indicative of the extent of the Democratic rebellion. Representative Knudson, of the Ways and Means Committee, immediately called for a complete shakeup of the Treasury Department. He said Congress was unable to rely on the Treasury’s tax recommendations, so he was introducing a Bill to establish a Bureau of Internal Revenue as an independent agency “to serve both the President and Congress, unfettered by the theorists and stargazers in the Treasury.” Mr. Roosevelt urged Senator Barkley not to resign as Leader of the Senate. Mr. Roosevelt telegraphed Senator Barkley: “I regret to learn from your speech in the Senate that you thought I attacked the integrity of yourself and other members of Congress. Such, you must know, was not my intention. You and I may differ, and have differed on important measures, but that does not mean that we question one another’s good faith.

Common Objectives “In working together to achieve common objectives we have always tried to accommodate our views so as not to offend the other whenever we could conscientiously do so. Neither can we expect the other to go further.

“When last Monday I read to you portions of my tax message and you indicated disagreement, I made certain changes. As a result of our talk you did not, however, try to alter the basic decision when you realised how strongly I felt, while I did not realise how very strongly you felt.

“Had I known, I should not have tried to dissuade you from exercising your own judgment in urging the overriding of the veto. I sincerely hope that you will not persist in your intention to resign as majority leader of the Senate. If you do, I hope your colleagues will not accept your resignation, but if they do, I sincerely hope they will immediately unanimously re-elect you. “With many serious problems daily confronting us, it is inevitable at times that you should differ with your colleagues, and differ with me. I am sure your differing with your colleagues does not lessen their confidence in you as leader. Certainly your differing vvith me does not affect my confidence in your leadership, nor in any degree lessen my respect and affection for you personally.”

Dramatic Address

In a dramatic address to the Senate, Senator Barkley bitterly assailed President Roosevelt’s action. “The President resorted to one of the most unjustifiable calculations possible in order to make the tax bill’s yield appear lower than it actually was,” he said. Senator Barkley recalled Mr. Roosevelt’s veto message and referred to persons in public life who wanted even higher taxes than the President. “This is obviously a reference to Mr. Willkie who darts across the skies like a comet illuminating the heavens with an array of figures nobody can understand,” he said. “Perhaps this cellestial nomad frightened the President into asking for a higher figure.”

Shouting angrily, Senator Barkley declared: “This is the first time in my long service that I have been accused' of voting for a bill extending relief to the greedy and impoverishing the needy. Other members may do as they please. I don’t propose to take this unjustifiable

Senator Barkley

assault lying down. If Congress has any self-respect it will over-ride the veto and enact the Tax Bill into law.” Thunderous applause swept both sides of the chamber. Many senators, including Democrats, rushed over and shook Senator Barkley’s hand. 1 Representative Doughton, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, later urged the House to over-ride the Presidential veto, saying Mr. Roosevelt sought to usurp the right of Congress to decide what shall go into the revenue bill.

“He told us, in effect, to accept his dictation or abdicate our responsibility,” he said “That is where I part company with the President of the United Sates.” .

Senator Barkley has called a conference of the Democratic majority for tomorrow morning to select a successor, but many Democratic senators predicted that Barkley would be given a vote of confidence and unanimously re-elected. The House of Representatives majority leader (Mr. McCormack) also expressed the hope that Senator Barkley would be re-elected. However, Senator Barkley said he aid not desire re-election.

The Associated Press says the capital is stunned by the revolt and the repercussions on the steadily deteriorating relations between the President and Congress could not be immediately appraised. Deep Cleavage The significance of Senator Bark-

ley’s resignation obviously far transcends the immediate question of the merits of the legislation involved,says the New York “Herald Tribune” editorially. The cleavage is far too deep to be repaired by any eleventhhour repentance by the President, however abject. Two theories have been advanced to explain the growing rift between the President and Congress. One is that Mr Roosevelt, like President Wilson, has become so immersed in world affairs, that he has lost touch with public opinion at home. The other is that he has embarked upon a deliberate campaign to discredit the legislative branch as part of his fourth term campaign.

The.“ New York Times,” in a leader, says the tone, even more than the fact of Mr Roosevelt’s veto of the Tax Bill precipitated the crisis in relations between the President and Congress The 'intemperate language of the veto was an obvious blunder. The President, in his telegram to Senator Barkley, wisely recognised how essential it is for the sake of collaboration with the legislative branch, to repair that blunder.

The Washington correspondent of the “Herald Tribune” says Government officials are anxious to determine whether a Congressional revolt would imperil its hitherto non-partisan support of foreign policy, such as lendlease, U.N.R.RA.. and strategic materials purchasing.