European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - June 1, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes june columns James Kilpatrick trying to breathe new life into old amendment Back in Sef fember con Gress approved 12 amendments to the As every schoolchild 10 of them became our Bill of the other two resolutions failed to win support in three fourths of the states and presumably were but behold one of the two forgotten amendments has come Back to it could mean a Heap of political trouble for members of con this is the text no Law varying the compensation of the senators and representatives shall take effect until an elec Tion of representatives shall have inter for the record the other abandoned amendment of 1789 would have fixed a formula for representation in the while these resolutions were Vermont became the 14th state in the infant eleven ratifications were thus but the Resolution on representatives won Only nine and the Resolution on compensation won Only six North South Caroli Vermont and seven states never voted on the matter at new Hampshire rejected the pay amendment unlike most recent resolutions of which fix a seven year period for the pay amendment of 1789 is from its abandon ment in 1791 until according to an article in the los Angeles the amendment Lay then Congress raised the pay of members from the a Day that had been approved in 1796 to the substantial sum of a this a seemingly raid on the Treasury set off some grumbling there was talk of reviving the old but nothing actually happened and the amendment went Back to but in something came along Ohio historians May know that provoked Ohio into ratifying the promo another Century passed without further then Wyoming ratified it in that brought the total to in 1983 a state senator in Mel Vin Learned of the sleeping he pushed it through the Maine and word began to last year Colorado made it South Dakota ratified it in new Hampshire in Arizona in the count now stands at As suming that the original Resolution of 1789 is still on the and that All 13 ratifications still Are another 25 states could Complete the but is everything valid during the prolonged Battle Over the equal rights much was heard about the doctrine of experts could not agree on what the doctrine but they did agree that nothing in the Constitution itself or in statutory Law or judge made Law fixes any deadline for state the Constitution says Only that once Congress has proposed an it shall be valid to All intents and As part of this when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several the pay amendment looks Good to All the Constitution says about pay for members is that the senators and representatives shall receive a compensation for their to be ascertained by and paid out of the trea sury of the United the present salary is up from last since members of Congress have voted themselves nine raises in base along with handsome increases in fringe the Cost of living in Washington is among the highest in the in terms of the purchasing value of the Dol members Are paid less today than they were paid 10 years an arguable Case can be made either the Only recent Effort to adjust congressional salaries would have been barred by the pending on May senators Jesse r and Charles moved to reduce salaries by 10 their motion lost on a 4949 tie thirty three republicans and 16 democrats voted for the pay Cut 19 republicans and 30 democrats voted against my own feeling is that is a reasonable but i voice no passion ate convictions on the the idea of an intervening election before a raise could become effective strikes me As a sound this amendment has been aging for 196 its time to write it into the Universal press Syndicate James Reston Reagan loves speeches but forgets Hes president just one Day before appealing to the democrats on National television to support his tax Reform Bill probably the most important and innovative proposal of his second term president Rea Gan accused them of being soft on communism and pitting White against women against men and Young against old at these Are fighting not Likely to encourage the Unity he needs and wants for tax Reform in the it was an Odd introduction to his latest act and Chance on the he has been his own worst enemy late Why infuriate tip who has the votes to beat him in the name of reconciliation did he misunderstand the history of the two world wars in his recent stroll through the cemeteries of Germany on the eve of the second phase of nuclear arms talks with the russians at did he mock them for their failures As a declining Force in the world the i is that he sees no relationship Between one thing and Between the words his immedi ate audience wants to hear and his poli his performance on memorial Day illustrates the he went to the Arlington National cemetery Early in the and with his usual celebrated the sacrifices and tragedies of human conflict and wiped the tears from his in a totally different he Fiew immediately to Disneyland in Flor Ida and hugged the and went from there to Miami for a political rally and praised the Freedom fighters of condemned the democrats for acting As if a weaker America was a safer seeing no difference be tween his tears in the morning and his provocations in the it would probably be wrong to con clude from this that he meant to pick a fight with the democrats or the new Guy in its just that he loves to make but forgets that he is president of the United he thinks he can say anything he even if he Doest think at ail about the his personal performances have worked fairly even when he loses a vote Here and there on the As he has been doing he is still left with More Money than he knows How to spend under military contractors that he cannot he juggles his reverses with remarkable before the he says Cut Ting the defense budget by a dime would threaten the Security of the after the when he loses by tens of millions of he proclaims it As a Victory for austerity and demonstrates his gift for but things Are changing even with agreed cuts in the budget and All reagans promises that his suppl siders would grow the budget into the Outlook today is that his contribution to history would be not a first or second revolution As he Calls but a minor economic correction and the largest Bud get deficit in the history of the so the Congress is beginning to take a new look at particularly the new leaders of the Republican controlled sen led by Bob Dole of in last years Reagan was their this they have a and there beginning to think Reagan is part of Twenty two Republican senators Are up for reelection in most of them in Dicey they Are not sure they can win by supporting reagans or his Public attacks on the the the Farmers and the cutbacks in the old folks social Security for the time the republicans Are Riding against a leaderless democratic but they have a problem if Reagan in the next year cannot come to terms with the democrats Over tax Reform and make some Progress with the soviet Union on the control of nuclear chances Are that the democrats will control both the House and the Senate in the last two years of reagans second this is Why Dole and other Republican leaders Are wondering if it is in the presidents own or in the interest of the Republican party or the to attack the democrats when the president needs their votes to put Over the most necessary and Long delayed tax they Are telling or at least telling Donald Regan in the White James Baker Iii at Treasury and George Shultz at to Cool it at Home and abroad while there and try to get tax Reform and arms control before its too new York times news service