Nation: Congress Delay and Disarray

PRODDED by the presidential threat of a post-Christmas special session, one of the slowest-moving Congresses in U.S. history belatedly bestirred itself. The result was the busiest legislative week of the year. The House passed four major bills—on voting rights, the antipoverty program, military appropriations and foreign aid—and in the process advanced the Administration's dual drives to cut costs and to please the South. The runaway Senate, however, ignored the direct challenge of a presidential veto and beat off all attempts to knock out any of the extravagant items of a politically appealing but...