Rankin's Folly

Representative Rankin's pension plan for veterans of the two World Wars is now in the lap of a highly nervous Congress. This plan, which would give every veteran $90 a month beginning with his sixty-fifth year, is probably the most ambitious special interest plunge into the federal treasury ever attempted by mortal man. The Budget Bureau, in quivering tones, has reported that Mr. Rankin's boondoggle would cost the country something like $125,000,000,000 by the year 2000.

When this bill was only a mad gleam in Rankin's eye a few months ago, few people were disturbed. It looked like Rankin was just going to try to embarrass the Administration by yowping about veterans' rights in his Veterans' Affairs Committee. But the colorful statesman from Mississippi was able to ram his project through the committee--most of the members stalked out of the "hearing" in protest against the chairman's arbitrary tactics--and he was also able to bring it to the House floor on Tuesday.

Now that he is out in the open, Congressman Rankin is going to have relatively smooth sailing. Most Senators or Representatives would rather spit on Old Glory than be caught in the act of voting against the Veteran, even if they know that the Rankin plan would make the federal budget a grotesque joke. On Tuesday, for example, the House voted twice to chop the enacting clause out of the pension bill--which would have squelched it--but when Rankin demanded a roll call vote, the opposition vanished as if by magic. The enacting clause was left in, 291 to 120.

Mr. Rankin has both major parties in a very nasty position. Democratic leaders cannot require their forces to oppose the pension bill, unless they want a full-scale mutiny on their hands. The GOP is similarly tied, although Republicans can hardly deny some satisfaction at the sight of the Administration taking a licking. Two veterans' organizations have had the courage to fight Rankin's bill; but the efforts of the American Veterans Committee and the Amvets cannot match the elephantine maneuvers of the American Legion, which has blessed the measure with all the prestige of around 4,000,000 Legionnaires.

The opposition has already made some inroads on the Rankin bill here and there; yet the House failed two days ago in an attempt to block veterans of World War II from the benefits. The Senate may be able to slice further into Rankin's proposal or even smother it in a committee. But the chances that Mr. Rankin can pry something substantial out of Congress seem about as reasonable as the chances that he can be blocked. Even if he is only partially successful, there would be less money for housing, social security, and other items that are necessary for the whole nation--not just veterans. And if Rankin gets most of what he wants, the United States might as well get ready to ask Western Europe for a Marshall Plan in reverse.