William H. Milliken, Jr. - The Conclusion of Eisenhower's Second Term

The Conclusion of Eisenhower's Second Term

When Milliken was sworn in as Delaware County's representative in Congress on January 3, 1959, he was joined by only 153 fellow Republicans. Across the aisle in the House chamber were 283 Democrats ready to pass an agenda different than that of the Republican Administration. Eisenhower thus became the first president in U.S. history to face a Congress controlled by the opposition party three elections in a row.

He described the large Democratic representation in Congress as those "I would class among the spenders...And I promise this: for the next two years, the Lord sparing me, I am going to fight this as hard as I know how." He further elaborated, telling the legislative leadership early in 1959: "We've got to convince Americans that thrift is not a bad word."

With the fiscal 1959 budget in the red by $12.4 billion, a peacetime record, and primarily due to the recession, Eisenhower was determined to keep federal spending in line. He was lucky to have new Republican minority leaders in the House and Senate, who would support him on the economic issues. Charles A. Halleck of Indiana deposed Joseph Martin in the House and Everett M. Dirksen of Illinois succeeded William Knowland, who had unsuccessfully run for governor of California, for the Senate Minority Leader.

After taking office, Milliken was appointed to the House Banking and Currency Committee and introduced several bills in 1959, including one to increase the amount of other income allowed without causing a loss of social security benefits from $1,200 to $1,800. Another bill was to allow the exemption of suburbanites from the Philadelphia wage tax. During the year, he supported President Eisenhower's attempts to hold down federal spending, including numerous vetoes, in 66% of the votes and opposed those efforts 34% of the time. Out of thirty Pennsylvania congressmen, he tied for second place among those supporting economy in government. As a result of these efforts, the budget year ending June 30, 1960, would show a small surplus of $1.2 billion and would be the last budget surplus that would not include the use of the surplus in the trust funds, such as Social Security. Other significant legislation for the year included the approval by the House, 323-89, for Hawaii's admission into the Union, which Milliken supported. However, the administration's proposed civil rights bill languished in the conservative dominated Rules Committee.

During the following year, Milliken supported funding for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, as well as the Civil Rights Act of 1960, which allowed for court appointed referees to help register minorities to vote and efforts to increase the minimum wage. For his first term, Milliken proved to be the strongest supporter of the Eisenhower administration in the Pennsylvania delegation, with an 81% score in support and only 18% in opposition. However, on July 1, he deserted his president, along with many other Republicans, in voting to override the veto of a proposed 7.5% pay raise for federal workers. Eisenhower stated in his objections, that since 1953, federal workers had received pay raises well in excess of inflation and that Congress had bowed to "intensive and unconcealed political pressure" from the postal unions.