Since World War II, air pollution had greatly increased, causing ill health to people and considerable property damage. The committee received letters such as this one from a Tampa, Florida physician who had treated a “young lady” who had been…

Shortly after introducing S. 306, Robert F. Wagner, Mayor of New York, wrote Senator Muskie to express his support for S. 306. The mayor noted that New York City’s efforts to improve air quality were frequently undercut by surrounding municipalities…

On January 12, 1965, Carl D. Perkins (D-KY), chair of the General Education Subcommittee of the House Committee on Education and Labor, introduced H.R. 2362, an administration backed education bill. It specified a federal funding formula based on…

When H.R. 6675 reached the Senate, the risk to the bill came from liberals eager to expand coverage by adding amendments to the bill. One such amendment added to the bill by the Senate Finance Committee shifted coverage of specialized medical…

S. 4 was referred to the House Committee on Public Works, which reported an amended bill on March 31, 1965. The most important amendment dropped the Senate provision authorizing the Department of Health, Education and Welfare to set water quality…

In his State of the Union address, President Lyndon B. Johnson called for an expanded conservation program as part of his vision of the Great Society, and on February 8, 1965, he delivered this Natural Beauty Message declaring that “Every major river…

On July 9, 1965, the House rejected the Republican substitute bill, H.R. 7896, by a vote of 166 to 215. The House then considered fourteen amendments to H.R. 6400, but only passed three that made no consequential changes to the bill. The House…

When H.R. 6675 reached the floor, it was the first time that a Social Security-based health plan had been debated in the House of Representatives. Republicans continued to fight for a fully voluntary health plan and opposed the universal, Social…

Representative Emanuel Celler sponsored H. J. Res. 1, a companion to the resolution passed by the Senate, and reported it from the House Judiciary Committee on March 24, 1965. This engrossing copy of the resolution passed in the House on April 13,…

Two days after the resolution passed, for the first time the House passed by a voice vote legislation providing federal support for the arts and humanities. The clearest indication of the level of support for H.R. 9460, however, came prior to the…