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NATIONAL LEAGUE OF CITIES (Formerly American Municipal Associa t ion) CITY BU IL DING, 1 61 2 K STREET , N . W., WASHINGTON , D. C., 2 0 0 0 6 NATIONAL LEGISLATIV ULLETI J anuary 12 , 196 7 THE 90TI! CONGRESS mm The Tone - go slow A cautious and conciliatory P~esident Johnson presented his fifth State o f the Union message to Congress Tuesday ni ght, Th e new Congres s had already indicat ed its mood by denying one of its members a seat and by selecting some c ons ervatives f or leader= ship positions . Congress responded qui ckly t o the mi l d " Guns and Butter" Administrati on pr ogram ,, In the face ~fa proposal to raise income taxes (less th an enough t o balance t he budget) prevailing Congress i onal attitude seemed to f avor reducing t he already minimal f unding of many domestic programs . The recommended 6% i ncome surtax receive d ·polite support at best . Nevertheless 9 cit ies ha,re reas on to be cautiously optimistic. While neither the President ' s message nor the Congressional response represented a strong convict ion that there is urgency in attacking the obvious "Cr isis of the Citi es / ' t he Presiden t di d s t ate his support of a number of essential fe deral-urb an programs

,e Mission - retreat and regroup As lawmakers returned to Washington they were admonished by Senate lajority Leader Mike Mansfield not to anticipate many new Administration proposals but to concentrate on a "major re-examination" of existing programs . This followe d on the heels of demands by Democratic Governors to slow the pace set by the 89th Congress. The President agreed. As the first of his four steps "to carry f orward our progress" the President sai d , "We must see to it that these new programs work effectively •••• Every program will be thoroughly evaluated. Grant-in-aid programs will be improved and simplified ••• 0 11 The President stated a frequently hcal"d complaint that could further delay additional federal commitments to meet urban area needs. Each State, county and city needs to examine its capacity for government in today's world. Some will need to reorganize and reshape their methods of administration--as we are doing. Others will need to revise the ir constitutions and their laws to bring them up to date--as we are doinge Above alls we must find ways in which the Multitudes of small jurisdictions can be brought together more efficiently . The Commitment - "to continue to build a better A.ilerica" 'rhe President rededicated the Administration to the support of a number of programs of ·.mary interest to cities: "I recommend we intensif{ our efforts to give the poor a chance to join (over) 1 �the Nation ' s progress ooooI urge s pecia l methods and speci a l f unds to r each Amer i cans t rapped i n the ghettos of our c itie s = and through Head St art to reacn out t o our young c ni.ldr enn" "We shoul d t ransform our decayi ng s lums i nt o pl a ces of decency t hrough t he landmark Model Cities Progr am o I intend to seek for t his effort the f ull amount Congress authorized l ast year"" "We shoul d call upon t he genius of priva t e i ndustry and t he most advanced t e chnology to help rebui l d our citie s , " " We shoul d vastly expand t he fight for clean air wit h a t ot al a tt ack on pol= lution at its s ource noo 11 " We shoul d carry t o e very corner of the Nat ion our campaign for a Beautiful Amer i ca - creati ng mor e narks, mor e s eashores , and more open spa ces oooo 11 The Safe St reet s an d Cri me Cont rol Act of 1967 = t he one ma j or new proposa l In cont rast t o t he rhetorica l t reat ment of other 11 ~ban probl ems and programs , t he Pr es ident spelled out det ails of an "allout effort t o attack crime o" The Pr es i dent prooosed federal grant s t o s t at e and l ocal commun ities of -9 0% of t he cost of devel oping s t at e and l ocal plans to combat crime ~ -60% of the cost of t rain i ng new t a ctical uni ts , devel oping inst ant ~ommun i cations and s pecial alarm systems ~ and int roduc ing t he l atest 3quipment and t echniques to combat crime ~ - 50% of t he cost of crime l aboratories and police a cademy=type centers t o a s sure t he best-tra i ned equipped oolice~ and "We will recommend new met hods to prevent juven ile deliquent s f rom be comi ng adult del inquents o We wi l l s eek new part nerships with State s and r; i t ies t o deal with t he narcotics problem , " Congressional Leadership Shifts In the Senat e , conservative Robert Co Byrd (D=WoVa o) defe a ted Pennsylvania liber a l J ose ph S Clarke by a vot e of 35~28 for the posi t ion of Secretary of t he Senate Democrat i c Conferen ce , t he t hird=ranking Democratic leaa~rship position in t he Senate , California' s conservative junior Senator, George Murphy, defeated Hugh Scott, Pennsyl vania moderate , for chai rmanship of the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee o The deat h of Rep o John E, Fogarty (D- Roi n ) on the opening dav represents a s e ver e bl ow to suppor t ers of health legisla tion o Forgary has been chairman of t he House Appropr iati ons Subcommittee on Labor, Healthi Education and Welfare o Re p o Carl Do Perkins (D=Ky o) succeeds Adam Clayton Powell (D=N, Y, ) as chairman of t he House Educa tion and Labor Committee , Perkins has been a strong supporter of Admini s t r at ion l eg= islation dur i ng the 89th Congress , �-3~ , Rules - another debate The Senate started its work this week wi~h its annual debate over amending Rule 22~ the cloture proce dure for ending filibus ters. The Rule is not likely to be altered t h i s year. Debate will continue into next week House leade rship lost an opening day skirmish when t he House refused to retain the 21- day rule adopte d by the 89th Congress . That rule perm its the Speaker to call upon a l egi slati ve committee to call up a bill favorably reported if the bill had not been cons i dered by the House Rules Committee with 21 days This could result in a showdown or bl ocking of key Administration legislation, House leaders have another ace to play -- t he Rul es Committee may have two liberals added to its membersh i p to outvote its current conse rvative aH gnment headed by its new chairman William M. Colmer ( D-Miss.) . Colmer r eplaced Howard w. Smith (D-Va . ) who was not returned t o Congress . Coming Up The Senate Subcommi ttee on Intergovernmental Relations (Muskiea Chm.) will resume heari ngs on the effectiveness of grant-in- aid programs, Governors will appear t he last week in January. Local government spokesmen will testify February 6~7 and 9 , House Ways and Means Committee (Mills, Chm.) will open its activity with considerat ion of Social Security Amendments. It will not ge t to the proposed income tax incre as e until early April . President's budget message is expected to reach Congress about January 24. Details of State of the Union recommendations should start flowing to the Congress abo ut the same time. Senate Subcommittee on Air and Water Pollution (Muskie, Chm.) will hold hearings on automotive air pollution during February i n Los Ange les, Denver, and Detroit, Other hearings in New York and Wash i ngton and other cities will be scheduled later. �