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The Senate's endorsement of the authorization bill was an important Eisenhower victory because the bill was at the heart of the Administration's long overdue plan to give new sense and direction to foreign-aid spending. Still to come is an appropriations measure to provide the actual funds for fiscal 1958. Looking toward that, Democrat Johnson was cautious: "It may be that some downward adjustments can be made. This is a problem which we can solve when we consider the appropriations bill." But if Johnson foresaw a problem, he and his fellows also had created a precedent. By taking their stand against Morse and Talmadge during the public debate, and backing up a majority conviction with a strong vote for the authorization, the Senate had virtually pledged itself to resist meat-ax cuts when the appropriations come around.
Last week the Senate also:
¶Passed (78-0) a $3.6 billion Agricultural Department appropriation, which restored the $500 million soil-bank program slashed out by the House at the height of its economy mood. The bill goes to a Senate-House conference where the Senate version is expected to prevail.
¶ Worked at a rate of more than $27 million a minute during a five-hour session to appropriate funds for 20 independent agencies, e.g., Veterans Administration, Federal Trade Commission, Federal Communications Commission. Approved also was a $2.8 billion appropriation for the Labor, and Health, Education and Welfare Departments that ran counter to economy. The bill provided $96 million less than President Eisenhower asked, $38 million more than the House approved, and contained an additional $32 million for medical research that was tacked on by Alabama's Lister Hill.
¶Approved, in the Foreign Relations Committee, U.S. membership in the Eisenhower-backed international atoms-for-peace agency, but added a single qualification despite State Department protests. If the international organization adopts any amendment of which the Senate disapproves, the U.S. must withdraw from membership.