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THE URBAN COALITION ACTION COUNCIL JOHN W . GARDNER CHAIRMAN 1819 H STREET. N . W . WASHINGTON. D. C . 20006 May 16, 1968 WEEKLY LEGISLATIVE REPORT (Current as of May 16, 1968) The Staff FROM: .• Action Council Legislative Goals . The present legislative goals of the Action Council's program for this year are: Substantive Legislation 1. Passage of the Administration's tax increase as part of the Tax Adjustment Act of 1968. (H.R. 15414) 2. Passage of the Administration's Housing and Urban Development bill substantially as introduced. 3. Passage of of 1968 as reconciled Javits and the Emergency Employment and Training Act introduced by Senator Clark and alternately to similar bills introduced by Senators Prouty. Appropriations 1. Full funding for OEO's Poverty Program with $75 million in additional funds authorized for summer job programs and an additional $25 million appropriated for yearround Head Start programs. 2. Full funding of programs , particularly Rent Supplements, Public Housing, Model Cities, and Urban Renewal. 3. Exemption of all education programs from budget cuts and additional funding for Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and the Teacher Corps. TELEPHONE: 202 293-1530 �' - 2 - The Status of Substantive Legislation The Emergency Employment and Training Act of 1968 Senate hearings are already in progress. Spokesmen for the Poor People's Campaign appeared before the Committee on May 8. Further hearings ended May 15. The following parties, among others, have been asked to appear before the Subcommittee and testify on the proposed legislation: the Secre tary of Labor; the Se cret ary of Commerce ; Mr. Le o Beebe , the Coo r dinator of the nation a l JOBS Program; Mr. I. W. Abel of the United Steelworkers; Whitney Young; William Zisch; Robert F . Cannagen of General Dynamics; the National Association of Manufacturers; and the U. s. Chamber of Commerce . The Subcommit t ee wi ll hold its Ex ecutive Ses sion during the last week in May . The target date for Senate floor action is late June - - before the July 4 recess. Th e b a sic st rat e g y i s to ame n d the Admin i str ati on's bill S.2938 (wit h 33 co- s p ons o rs ) wh i ch is, in effect , a simple exten s ion of t he Ma np ower De v e lopment and Trai nin g Act Program. The bill will be a Clark-Javits -F~outy compromise wh ich, in effe ct , amends the Na t i o nal Manpower Act. Subcommitte e members exp e c t t h e compr omis e manpowe r bill to b e v o ted unanimously o u t o f Committee. Admin i st ration Pos i tion All indi c a t i o ns are that the Administration wil l take no act i on to suppor t the Cla r k-J a vits- Pr o uty b i ll . Co o rdination with House of Represen tativ es At thi s point , t h e Senate has moved o n the legislation witho ut any specific reference to similar legislation whi ch has been i n tro d u ced in the House and has not made any effort to coordinate its activities with the Hous e Education and Labor Committee. �- 3 - The Status of House Legislation The Select Subcommittee on Labor scheduled hearings on H.R. 12280, the Guaranteed Employment Act , sponsored by Congressman James O'Hara {plus 80 others), beginning Tuesday, May 7, for a week; to be continued May 20, for a week, with one additional week scheduled sometime during the month of June. Witnesses who have testified before the Subcommittee are as follows: May 7, George Meany ; May 8, Bayard Rustin and representatives of religious groups; and May 9, Ron M. Linton, representing John W. Gardner, Chairman of the Urban Coalition Action Council . The Subcommittee has scheduled s e parate hear i ngs on H.R. 15045 which is the Administration's bill introduced by Representative Elmer Holland to e x tend the Ma npowe r Development and aTraining Act. The hearings took place on May 15 and 16. The outlook in the House fo r e nactment of this legis lat i on appears quite grim , a ccording to Hou s e p r oponen ts . The Tax Adjustment Act of 1968 Th e Senate-House Con ferees agreed on a 10 pe r cent tax sur c harge with $6 billion in budget cuts . Th e y h a ve comp l eted act i on on the repo r t and it is evident that i f the $6 bill i on is cut f r om the b udge t, it will seri ously affect many o f the p r og r ams in wh ich t h e Co al ition i s inte r ested . I nc l uded i n the Confere nce r epo r t a re o ther impo r tant me asures i n the Soc ial Sec uri ty fi e l d . (1 ) The fre e ze on aid t o dependent children (AFDC) whi c h wou ld have g one into effe ct J uly 1, 1968 is postponed one year t o J uly 1, 1 969. (2) Une mploye d fathers will be entitled to receive AFDC (welfare) benefits for those weeks in a month for which they do not receive unemployment c ompensation. Under e xi sting law they cannot receive payments under both prog r ams in the same month. �- 4 - The Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968 Hearings have been completed on both the Senate and House versions of urban development legislation. The Senate filed the report on the bill (S.3497-S.Report 1123) on May 15. However, the Omnibus crime bill now before the Senate probably precludes action on the Housing bill for a week. The Housing Subcommittee of the House begins its e x ecutive mark-up of the bill on May 21. The subcommittee hopes to complete its mark-up of the bill that week, then go to full committee consideration the wee k of June 3. It should be reported out on or about June 15. House floor action will most likely be delayed until the Senate has a chance to pass the bill . Appropriations The proposed schedule o f action on the part of the Appropri ations Subcommittees concerning legislation of interest to the Coalition is : 1. The Housing and Urban Dev elopment Appropriation bill for fiscal year 1969 was passed on May 8 , in the House of Represen t a tive s . Our objective was to hold to the Committee reported bill with $400 million for Model Cities , $100 million fo r Urban Renewal add-on, and $25 million for Rent Supplement . We achieved our o b jecti ve . 2. The Hou s e Labor -HEW Appropr iat i o n bill f o r fiscal ye ar 1 969 is being mark ed - up i n t he sub committee n ow wi th the hop e of r epo r ting i t out o f t he f ull commi ttee the f ir st we ek o f Jun e . 3. The c ommittee is h o lding up the Regular Supplemental Appr o pr ia tion for 1968 until it r e ceives the Fe deral Pay Suppl e mental. I t is in this latter bill we h o p e to get funding inc lude d f or Head Start and summer job pro grams. The House Appropriations Committee is probably 20 - 40% more conservative by voting r ecord than the House as a whole. To the e xten t that the Urban Coalition Action Council members, particularly those from the business sector , c an per s uade " swing " members of the House Appropriations Committee of the need for the OEO a ppropriations, �- 5 - the Housing Appropriations, etc., and also persuade them that they are willing to see cuts in other less critical domestic areas, there is some possibility that the 90th Congress could close having provided the narrow minimum of resources needed to meet the most pressing urban needs. �