Word: passman
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President Johnson does not like to bat his head against stone walls. One of the most effective pieces of masonry in Congress is Rep. Otto E. Passman (D-La.), who for years has made a career of blocking the road between the treasury and the various foreign aid administrations. Last week Johnson decided to surrender rather than continue an increasingly risky political battle. Amidst protestations of impotence ("I think it is going to be very tough to get a good foreign aid measure through Congress this year"), Johnson asked for what he called "a great deal of money": $3.4 billion...
...Passman seemed singularly unimpressed. After the meeting, he snapped: "I'll go to the White House when I'm invited, and I'll be polite and I'll listen. But if the day comes when I have to yield my own convictions, fully supported by facts, then I'll go home." Instead of going home, he went straight back to his subcommittee and forced through a cut of $800 million, from the $3.6 billion authorization to an appropriations recommendation of $2.8 billion. Johnson was furious, called in reporters for a statement: "The proposed reductions...
...authorization is only half the struggle. After that, the Congress must approve the actual appropriations. For years Louisiana Democrat Otto Passman, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee's foreign operations subcommittee, has been trying to cut foreign aid to the barest bone. But in the climate of the 1963 Congress, Passman seems likelier than ever to have his way. And what does he say? He says: "Anything over $2.7 billion would be a waste of money...
...committee members were furious. Ohio Republican William E. Minshall stormed that the U.S. had been "hoodwinked." Subcommittee Chairman Otto Passman, a longtime foreign aid foe, laid the loan to the "gullibility of Uncle Sam" and said acidly: "I would certainly discount any justifications you people make for any type of loan to Indonesia if you do not know any more about what is going on than that. I am just wondering if we could not find some friends to whom to give our money instead of to that country...
...White House education was a "paper cut" of unobligated funds rather than a reflection of his recommendations. The General was now prepared to recommend $300 million more in cuts to Mr. Morgan this week. Already it is obvious that the cynics were right, and that when Mr. Passman comes to run his disapproving eye over A.I.D. the authorized ceiling in its funds will be at least $1.2 billion below what the President once requested...