opinion
Battalion/Page 2
December l
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Reagan takes on
the lame ducks
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by Norman Sandler
United Press International
WASHINGTON — President Reagan left
town in the midst of the lame-duck session of
Congress he requested, expressing confi
dence that “there is a desire on everyone’s
part to gel the job done in a spirit of coopera
tion.”
In the realities of Washington politics,
however, Reagan left town only after setting
the stage for several major confrontations
that could well continue beyond the three-
week duration of the current session into the
next Congress.
The president minimized the dangers just
90 minutes before leaving for South America
by abandoning a proposal to accelerate the 10
percent tax cut set for next July, which sent
deficit-conscious congressional leaders
reeling.
Last week, his staff sought to defuse
another potential powder keg by announcing
Reagan had vetoed a proposed tax on unem
ployment benefits that had attracted the
wrath of Democrats and labor leaders.
But problems remain on the horizon for
Reagan in his relations with a holdover Con
gress that is not expected to finish all the work
now before it and a new Congress that
appears to be less inclined to support him.
Among the items that Reagan lumped into
a catch-all bag of requests he laid at Congress’
doorstep before leaving for five days of pres
idential talks and ceremonial welcomes in
Latin America was funding for the MX mis
sile.
With the exception of the accelerated tax
cut, no subject could be more ripe for con
troversy.
Reagan outlined his $26 billion plan for
basing the lOwarhead MX missile — to be the
most powerful and accurate in the U.S. arsen
al — in a nationwide address the evening be
fore his recent week-long holiday in Cali
fornia.
It took one day for the proposal to come
under sharp attack on Capitol Hill, even with
The question is: How much longer will
Congress wait.
Republican leaders predict Congress will
trim the pace of defense spending proposed
by Reagan, ignoring his argument that the
key to lower deficits lies in cutting outlays for
social programs, not the military.
And beyond fiscal policy, it remains to be
seen whether Congress has the patience to
accept a $5.5 billion program of road and
highway repairs — funded by a 5-cent gaso
line tax increase — as Reagan’s sole response
to unemployment that is at a 42-year high.
White House aides hope that the shortness
of the lame-duck session will keep controversy
to a minimum. What they may not yet have
done is look beyond to determine how the
unfinished agenda of the current session
might make for rocky relations between
Reagan and the 98th Congress.
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All things considered
Criticism is the highlight of the edito
rial page. Lately, Jackie Sherrill and art
that appears on campus lawns have been
the targets of the criticism.
But there are nice things to be said,
too. Some things actually do go right at
Texas A&M University. Every day, many
jobs are completed without problems.
For example, 3,500 to 4,000 books are
checked out of the library each day. More
than 1 million books were checked out
last year. How’s that for an answer to
whether Johnny can read?
And Johnny can study in new build
ings. Twenty-nine major projects valued
at $68 million are under construction in
the Texas A&M System. And 15 of these,
valued at $56 million, are at Texas A&M.
To top all of this, some of this con
struction will be finished ahead of sche
dule. Renovation of the Animal Science
Pavilion will be finished three months
ahead of schedule and the University
provided with more than
Ions of drinkable water. Allofth
Ions go through millions of feel
without leaking.
More than 10 million square
/file M
classroom and office space are r dav nigf
every day. Kdpot’
Food services provides nearliSpy ' n a
meals a day in all campus dining® 1
And 5,344 Coke breaks are l ... ^
. . r ii IRnts in
day bv various folks on campus,fg e ^ on
And when the day is throi|Sj 0 p 0sa i
than 9,000 students have used tit Rnt to
■display,
Press Building will be completed four
months ahead of schedule.
More than 700,000 kilowatt hours of
electricity give Johnny lights to read each
day, and about 18,000 tons of air condi
tioning refrigeration are produced to
keep Johnny cool.
Some jobs are fulfilled daily with few
problems. Every day, the University is
campus and 2 intra-campuri
buses. Other modes of transpjpjhane W
also are used, including 23,OOI)ti|| The f
6,000 bicycles that drive thro® e ei j c *
park on campus each day. AlltliB ar i ie ,
les are used by 36,108 students®" p
...t o non r-w.iif,, / 1
|g s nea
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out 2,000 faculty members,
With everything that li
every day, the potential is gi
lems. The best part is that
don’t occur.
Congress in recess.
The funding request now before Congress
would not immediately place the MX in new
underground silos in Wyoming, but would
keep the program on schedule.
However, Reagan’s speech two weeks ago
not only reignited a longstanding debate over
the MX itself, but kindled a new review of his
overall arms buildup, his budget priorities
and his approach to disarmament.
As Congress considers money for the MX,
the discussion is likely to bring all of these
issues together on a collision course, which
could keep the defense debate fueled well into
next year.
In a similar vein, Reagan must await the
judgment of the new Congress on an econo
mic program shaped by a politicians who had
not yet heard the message sent by the voters in
the Nov. 2 elections.
Reagan, in recent public appearances, has
stood firm in pressing for approval of his
defense budget and retention of tax policies
that the public has looked on with some skep
ticism, but which he insists will work if given
time.
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Lost in new Capitol Hill office
Int
on
by Dick West
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Stopwatch, maps and
compass at the ready, I set out to become the
first human being to make it on foot from the
new Hart Office Building on the Senate side
of Capitol Hill to the Rayburn Building in the
House office complex.
Outdoors, the distance is nine city blocks,
as the lame duck flies. If, however, a pioneer
pedestrian is seeking a new indoor passage, as
I was, there are many obstacles. But first, a
little philosophizing, if you please.
When the plastic sheathing that shielded
winter constructicm workers on the Hart
Building was removed last spring, Sen. Pat
rick Monynihan, D-N.Y., introduced a resolu
tion to put it back.
He said the Senate’s newest white marble
edifice, “whose banality is exceeded only by its
expense,” looked better covered with plastic.
Well, I may not know much about architec
ture, but I do know what I like about Senate
resolutions. And I must respectfully disagree
that the Hart Building is distinguished by its
mediocrity and commonplaceness.
Banality, fully as much as beauty, is in the
eye of the beholder. To my untrained eye, the
Hart Building is every bit as undistinguished
as its five contemporaries on Capitol Hill.
My only regret is that senatorial authorities
saw fit to sort of sneak the building open, like
a thief in the night. I would have appreciated
a full-blown dedication ceremony, such as was
accorded the official opening of the Senate’s
branchline underground railroad in 1960.
On that joyous occasion, the Rev. Frederick
Brown Harris, Senate chaplain, recited the
Pledge of Allegiance and blessed the subway
cars as “swift chariots of democracy.”
Surely that was more auspicious language
than Moynihan’s epithet.
Anyway, I departed from the extreme
northeast corner of the Hart Building and
arrived, some 20 minutes, two elevators, three
escalators, four bunions and innumerable
ramps, stairs and corridors later, at the ex
treme southwest corner of the Rayburn
Office Building.
The latter structure, incidentally, is desig
nated as ROB to distinguish it from COB
(Cannon Office Building) and LOB (Long-
worth Office Building. However, anyone who
can tell a lob from a cob probably is in a heap
of trouble anyway.
Much of the going was underground and
tricky. I wouldn’t recommend that a
greenhorn attempt the indoor passage with
out a native guide.
The route is particularly confusing at the
end of the Senate subway, where painters
were transforming depressing lemon-colored
walls into depressing rose-colored walls.
Unless one watches one’s step at this point,
one is likely to wind up in the Senate soup
kitchen.
Maybe this explains what happened to
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You perhaps have read aboutadvf® a b
souls making cross-country hikes, l)l , Bg_y ear -c
etc., to promote some charity. Why(WK- 0U bl e s
ing philantropic motivation, undemw a f ewa y
conquest of the Hart Building? Icrest and
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adventurers everywhere will un, l ersll Twhen sh
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