Not Yes Men

The House votes no after no

Jimmy Carter's 19% approval rating in the polls may be a record low for a President, but Congress is doing even worse.

An Associated Press-NBC News survey found that only 13% of the public has esteem for the Legislative Branch. Last week the House--with some help from the President--gave a solid demonstration of why it rates so badly.

The first fumble concerned the budget for fiscal 1980, which begins next Monday. Two weeks ago, Senate hawks wrung a promise from Carter to support an additional 3% increase, after allowing for inflation, in the defense budget for next year. This would mean a Pentagon budget of $130.6 billion in fiscal 1980.

Not surprisingly, House hawks figured that Carter's promise also extended to their efforts to boost the military budget. They therefore asked the Defense Department for help in lobbying for the increase, and were angered when the military refused, on orders from the White House. Carter advisers explained that Democratic congressional leaders had asked the Executive Branch to stay out of the budget fight in the House. The leaders figured that the bill to be voted on last week contained all the money for the military that liberals would accept; lobbying by the Administration for anything more might cause liberals to vote against the bill. Said Majority Leader Jim Wright:

"We can go only so far without alienating people. If spending is too big on domestic programs, you lose. If it's too big in military affairs, you lose. You've got to have a balance."

But the leaders had not found it. Complaining that they had been doublecrossed by the Administration, the hawks voted against the bill, contributing to its defeat, 213 to 192. This week House Speaker Tip O'Neill and fellow Democratic leaders will try to find a compromise; now that the conservatives have let off steam, the chances of doing so seem good.

In a second unexpected rebellion, the House refused to pass legislation that would begin carrying out the Panama Canal treaties, which require that the waterway be turned over to Panama in 2000.

Until that date, the pacts stipulate that the canal be administered by a U.S. Government commission. The Administration wanted the commission to be largely autonomous. But conservatives in the House have insisted on nearly complete Government control, chiefly by using annual congressional appropriations to finance the commission's operating costs.

When the fight reached the floor of the House, conservatives managed to round up enough support to defeat the bill, 203 to 192. Several Congressmen blamed the beating on poor Administration lobbying.

House and Senate leaders now must redraft a compromise bill, which is expected to be voted on this week.

In a pointless display of pique, the House voted, 215 to 200, against raising the ceiling on the national debt by nearly $100 billion, to $929 billion. The rejection underscored the anger of many Congressmen over the Administration's bud get and economic policies. But the defeat was more symbolic than real. When the House votes on the bill a second time, it is expected to pass. The alternative would be unthinkable even to conservatives: the Government would have to stop borrowing within a few weeks.

Congress took one pratfall last week for which it had only itself to blame. At issue was a 7% pay hike that would in crease Congressmen's salaries to $61,525 a year. The House first passed the mea sure, 156 to 64, using a parliamentary procedure that kept individual members' votes from being recorded, thus preventing constituents back home from learning which Congressmen supported the raise and which ones opposed it Later, pay-raise opponents forced a roll call, which required that a record be made of how each member voted. Asked Republican Representative Gerald Solomon of New York: "Does anyone in the House believe that we collectively deserve a raise?" Many members obviously did from the earlier vote, but not enough were willing to say so in public; the raise was thumbed down twice.

At a dinner for Democratic Congress men late in the week, Carter vented his frustration with the House, particularly over its rejection of the canal bill. He warned that campaign help, patronage appointments and even White House dinner invitations would henceforth go only to members who back his policies. Said the President: "We keep your voting records in my desk drawer in the Oval Office. We believe in rewarding our friends and punishing our enemies." That may or may not influence Congress.

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