Record of the 78th Congress (Second Session)

Report Outline
Major Legislation Enacted by 78th Congress
Note
Taxation, Appropriations and the National Debt
Congress and the Executive Establishment
Price Control, Farm and Labor Legislation
Reconversion of Industry; Postwar Public Works
War and Veterans Legislation
Relations with Foreign Nations
Constitutional and Electoral Questions
Special Focus

Major Legislation Enacted by 78th Congress

The Part to be played by the United States in safeguarding the peace and promoting world recovery after the present war will be determined by the new Congress–the 79th–which comes into being on January 3, 1945. The leadership of the President in this field was strengthened by the congressional primaries and elections of 1944. They reversed the downward trend of his party's majorities in Congress and removed prominent isolationists, both Democrats and Republicans, from both the Senate and the House.

The expiring Congress made advance arrangements during 1944 for the transition from war to peace within the United States. Chief among the measures it adopted were a bill for equitable settlement of terminated war contracts, a general industrial reconversion bill, and a bill to control the disposal of surplus war properties with a view to minimizing disturbances to the domestic economy.

The general principles to be followed in demobilization of the armed forces were left for determination by the Executive Branch, but Congress enacted two important measures to assist discharged service people with their readjustment to civil life. They were a mustering-out pay bill and the so-called “G. I. Bill of Rights.” The latter measure offers an unparalleled range of benefits, including continued education at government expense, government-guaranteed loans for the purchase of homes, farms and businesses, and long-continued unemployment benefits for veterans who have difficulty in finding jobs. Extended unemployment benefits for workers dismissed from war industries were rejected at the 1944 session, but will receive further consideration by the new Congress in 1945.