YOUR

YOUR

CONGRESSMAN

REPORTS

B'- Rst Burr P. Harrison

Washington—When is a Congressional appropriation for a federal public works project essential to the national interest, and when is it irresponsible spending?

Both question and answer are politically-charged, and the answer may depend on the year.

On August 26, 195$, President Eisenhower vetoed a public works appropriation bill passed by Congress because it contained money for 67 projects not listed in his budget request submitted earlier in the year.

In his veto message; Mr. 'Eisenhower commented, in part:

“By any sound test of urgency, these projects should not be started this 'year if we are to have a responsible federal fiscal policy. I believe that the American people look to the government to see that their tax money is spent only on neccessary projects and according'to a priority as to urgency that does not weaken our financial structure nor add to the tremendous debt burden that posterity will have to pay."

The President also recalled that, in his budct message of last year, he recommended “that no funds be appropriated to start additional projects in 1960.”

The projects to which Mr. Eisenhower objected were not thought up on the spur of the moment by Congress. They had been the subject of engineering planning pursuant to prior authorizations of the Congress and had been pronounced ready for work by the federal engineers responsible, but the President, in the exercise of his discreation, had not selected them to be recommended for work in the current fiscal year.

Subsequent to the veto, the Congress, in the exercise of its discretion, passed another bill, including the same projects and provding that the overall appropriation should remain within the budget total. When this also was vetoed, the Congress, by the two-thirds majority required by the Constitution. enacted the appropriation measure into law.