Record of the 77th Congress (Second Session)

Report Outline
Achievements of Congress During First War Year
War Taxation and War Borrowing
War and Nonwar Appropriations
Price Control and Anti-Inflation Bills
War Production Problems; New Government Controls
Military and Naval Measures; Civilian Defense
Political and Electoral Questions
Special Focus

Achievements of Congress During First War Year

The 77th congress met for its second session on Monday, January 5, 1942—four weeks after American entry into the war—and remained in session throughout the country's first year of armed hostilities with the Axis. The duties of the expiring Congress will be taken over on January 6, 1943, by the 78th Congress, chosen in the elections of last November, In the new Congress, the Democratic majority in the House will be reduced to 9 (from 101 at the beginning of the present Congress); in the Senate the Democratic majority will drop from 36 to 18.

Legislation enacted during the 18 months that preceded the American declarations of war had put the country in such a state of readiness for armed hostilities—and the government in such position to assist nations already waging war against Germany, Italy and Japan—that few changes of a fundamental character were needed after the United States entered the conflict.

War and Emergency Legislation at 1942 Session

New legislation at the second session of the 77th Congress was directed principally to raising billions of additional revenue for prosecution of the war; to making additional men available to the armed forces by lowering the draft age and providing support for dependants; to expanding powers of the President to deal with emergency situations. An unprecedented grant of power to freeze wages and prices for the duration of the war, and to “correct gross inequalities” in these fields, was made in the Emergency Anti-Inflation Act—the leading piece of domestic legislation enacted during the session.