THE ADMINISTRATION: Heading for Stalemate in Congress

“President Ford should put Air Force One in the hangar for at least eight months and stay home and begin realizing the real problems we have here.”

That piece of good advice did not come from a Democrat but from Mr. Republican himself: Senator Barry Goldwater, who was simply stating in his customary blunt way what most other members of Congress, and a fan— number of Americans generally, feel. Last week the President was handed a smashing defeat, partly by his own party, when his veto of a veterans’ benefits bill was overridden by a vote of 394 to 10 in the House and 90 to 1 in the Senate. The measure, which increased educational aid to veterans by 22.7%, was inflationary, and it was consistent for Ford to veto it. But little White House effort was made to gauge the reaction of Republican members or influence them. If continued, such unrealistic use of the veto, noted House Minority Leader John Rhodes, could lead to a stalemate Government when the new, heavily Democratic Congress convenes in January.

Arms Race. For the most part, Ford continued to remain on the defensive. At a press conference, he tried to counter the arguments that the SALT agreement with the Soviets either did not go far enough in limiting arms or represented undue arms concessions on the part of the U.S. “It puts a cap on future buildups,” he insisted, “and it actually reduces a part of the buildup at the present time.” Ford was convinced that without the agreement, the Russians intended to construct more than the new limit of 2,400 missile launchers and 1,320 MlRVs.

“We would have had an arms race.” He conceded, on the other hand, that because of inflation the U.S. will have to spend more on defense to reach the ceiling. How long will that go on? Replied Ford: “Until we are able to negotiate a reduction below the [ceiling].”

He also defended his cautious economic policies: “Times are nowhere near desperate enough to paraphrase President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s great rallying cry that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” He once more asked Congress to pass the economic program he proposed on Oct. 8, asserting it was sufficient for now to cope with the twin demons of inflation and recession.

Deepening Crisis. Later, accompanied by the news that November unemployment reached a 13-year high of 6.5%, his own top advisers were telling him something quite different (see ECONOMY & BUSINESS). Both Secretary of the Treasury William Simon and Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, have already let it be known that they favor a gasoline-tax hike. In a joint press conference, they also suggested that they might support a general tax cut, since the re cession is turning out to be sharper than expected. Even Ford’s visitors from abroad, Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, pressed him to take more resolute action in the deepening economic crisis (see THE WORLD).

It was not a week of total drift for the President. By a vote of 46 to 45, the Senate approved the Administration’s $2.72 billion foreign aid bill, which was in jeopardy because of congressional opposition to military assistance to South Viet Nam and Turkey. The bill squeaked through only because Ford and top Administration officials worked closely with the Democratic leadership, especially Hubert Humphrey. In a vigorous speech to the American Conference on Trade, Ford urged Congress not to cripple the measure with protectionist amendments. Now that a breakthrough had been made on the arms buildup, he said, “let us make some breakthrough on trade, essential for detente. The United States cannot afford to drift in a sea of international uncertainty at a time when its highest economic interests call for very decisive action.” To Republican ears, that sounded more like a President.