Record of the 75th Congress

Report Outline
Major Enactments of the 75th Congress
Revenues; Appropriations; Deficits
New Relief-Recovery Program
Business and Labor Legislation; Reform Measures
Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938
Government Reorganization; Regional Planning
Armament and Anti-War Measures
Special Focus

Major Enactments of the 75th Congress

The 75Th congress was expected, when it met for its first session in January, 1937, to complete two principal tasks before its final adjournment: (1) To provide for a thoroughgoing reorganization of the executive branch of the government; (2) to bring federal revenues and expenditures into approximate balance, after eight years of deficit financing. Neither of these major purposes had been accomplished when its third session came to a close June 16, 1938.

While the first session met under conditions of relative prosperity, the second and third sessions of the 75th Congress were held under conditions of deepening depression which discouraged plans for any early termination of emergency activities. One of the last measures sent to the President was the administration's relief-recovery bill which authorized $3,750,000,000 of spending and lending for the fiscal year beginning July 1, thus raising total appropriations at the 1938 session to about $12,000,000,000, and promising for 1939 one of the largest deficits of the depression decade.

Other principal measures enacted by the Congress were: