CONGRESSIONAL RECORD - SENATE

July 15, 1959

Page 13469

PRESIDENTIAL VETO OF HOUSING BILL

Mr. MUSKIE. I desire to compliment the Senator from Alabama on what I think is a masterful analysis of the President's veto message. It has been my privilege to serve under the chairmanship of the Senator from Alabama on the Subcommittee on Housing. In the course of that work, I have been impressed by his knowledge, his know-how, and his experience in the housing field. I was particularly impressed by his work in the conference committee.

As Governor of Maine during the past 4 years, I have had to work with an overwhelmingly Republican legislature. I have found that political cooperation in the interest of the people is a two-way street. During the work of the conference committee, under the chairmanship of the distinguished Senator from Alabama, I was impressed by his responsible attitude, by his objectivity, and particularly by his sensitivity to the need for this kind of cooperation.

I think the attitude displayed by the Senator from Alabama in the work of that conference and the product which emerged as a result merited something far better than the veto message of the President of the United States. If political cooperation is, indeed, a two-way street, the President did not travel that street in his veto message.

So I compliment the Senator. I am delighted that he has chosen the vehicle of hearings on the veto message before the subcommittee as a means for focusing public attention on this important problem and as a means for cooperation which such hearings may disclose, and upon the need for action which is so pressing, not only in the large cities throughout the country, but even in the small communities of my State of Maine.