Lyndon Johnson will certainly find it far more difficult to extract cooperation and cash from the 90th Congress, which convenes next week, than from the compliant, free-spending 89th. The three-seat Democratic loss in the Senate (the new lineup: 64 v. 36) will result mainly in strengthening the Republicans' moderate-liberal wing. The G.O.P. gain of 47 House seats in the November election, which cuts the Democratic advantage to 248 v. 187, gives the Republicans their strongest House delegation since 1957-58 and nudges the House back toward its traditional role of skeptic. A recent survey by Congressional Quarterly showed that while 218 representatives of the 89th —an absolute majority—generally favored new Great Society measures, only 177 members-elect of the new House said that they did.
Oversight Function. The changed temper goes well beyond mere numbers and partisan disagreements over specific issues. The wide extent of the new mood was illustrated last week by statements from two high-ranking Democrats, Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield and Vice President Hubert Humphrey.
Mansfield declared that the time had come for Congress to defer major new legislation until it could examine the many complex, expensive programs already enacted. He said roughly the same thing last year—and was largely ignored. This year, because they reflect the current mood of Congress so well, his remarks were greeted as a bellwether. "It occurs to me," said Mansfield in a letter to 17 committee chairmen, "that the next Congress will see the convergence of a unique opportunity with a great need for a concentrated Senate exercise of the oversight function. I would hope to see the beginning of a major re-examination of what we have done in legislation during the past few years. Considering the vast scope of this work and the unprecedented nature of much of it, it is to be expected that there exist a number of rough edges, overextensions and overlaps and, perhaps, even significant gaps. I am suggesting a concentrated re-examination of major legislative structures by which the Federal Government is enabled to play its role in the current life and affairs of the nation and the world."
Not Too Greedy. Even Humphrey, known for his often uncritical and generally outspoken support of Great Society innovations, seemed to be having some second thoughts. "Those programs," he said in an interview, "aren't going to be fulfilled in any one year. I've told a number of my friends, don't look upon the Great Society as if it is a smorgasbord, where you have to come and fill yourself to a point where you are literally ill at the first feast. There will still be plenty if you continue to take it in reasonable amounts year after year, rather than try to do it all at once. In other words, if we pace ourselves, if we're not too greedy, if we're not too overly anxious, I think we'll do much better."