YOUR

YOUR

CONGRESSMAN

REPORTS ^

B R.eb, Bwr P. Harris**

Washington—l^unng the Easter recess of the Congress, I have been visiting a number of communities in the Seventh Congressional District and talking informally with citizens. I have, found concern about the wtorld situation, particularly the Benin crisis, and a continuing interest in the prospects of cutting down on federal spending iit non-defense items.

Few of tthe regular appropriation bills have come out of committee yet, but it might be of interest to review the action taken so far in the House of Representatives on these bills.

The first to come up for a vote was the one carrying money to run the government of the Disttrict of Columbia during the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1959. The House followed the recommendations of its Appropriations Committee and approved a bill provid* ing $237 million, of which $45 million would go for construction projects. This amount is $33 million above the District of Colum-( bia appropriation for the present Fiscal year, but $9.5 million less than recommended in President Eisenhower’s budget.

The next appropriation bill to be considered in the li use was the one carrying funds for the Treasury and Post Office Departments. Again, the A-*' mriasions Committee recomme ’ l.uions werefollowed, and it s Voted to give these departmt $4.6' billion$518 million r - -e than the 1959 fiscal year figi- c. but $60 million less than requested by President Eisenhower. In the debate on this bill, the House was given figures illustrating the scope of the postal service.-more than .540000 employees; more than 41,000 owned and 4,700 rented vehicle:; travel of more than 1.6 million miles a day by 31JX) rural carr’r-s; 1.4 million . miles of daily t el by 2,400 mail trains; 2.1 million miles of daily travel by highway post offices and star routes.

Following the Treasury-Post Office appropriation, the House passed the* bill for the Interior