The President and Congress staged their expected perfunctory battle over subsidies last week, sounding much like tired stock-company players in rehearsals of a well-worn play. Vetoing the antisubsidy bill exactly as he had eight months ago, the President did not even bother to devise new epithets. He repeated that the bill was "an inflation measure, a high-cost-of-living measure, a food-shortage measure." Half an hour after his message reached the Hill, the House failed, as anticipated, to override his veto. Each step of the routine was foreknown: passage, veto, veto upheld. The real fight was not yet.
That fight will come before June...