June 26, 1975

Pres Ford wins his 4th straight veto fight of yr when HR fails to override his veto of a $1.2-billion emergency housing bill; vote of 268-157 follows partisan attack on Ford by HR Speaker C Albert, who denounced Ford's vetoes of recent Dem measures; Repr W L Hays charges that Ford's vetoes are becoming 'pol' and 'he thinks vetoes are going to elect him'; Repr J B Bingham prposes const amendment declaring that Cong could, by vote of 60% of members of each house, override vetoes of any Pres holding office without having been elected (M)

CIA Dir William E Colby says Cong members are not 'immune' from surveillance by CIA during their travels abroad, testimony before HR Govt Operations Subcom on Govt Information and Individual Rights; confirms that CIA now holds 75 files on incumbent Cong members that are filled with such items as CIA repts on their activities abroad, FBI repts and newspaper articles; Repr Abzug questions whether it is 'appropriate' for CIA simply to maintain files on Cong members, much less to continue to add to them; Colby says Amer intelligence is 'best in the world'; Pres Ford says there is 'expert intelligence-gathering community in our Fed Govt' as well as 'a 1st-class counterintelligence orgn,' news conf; Abzug points out what she calls discrepancies between Ford's rept on domestic CIA activities and testimony by Colby on that subject before her subcom last Mar; Colby's Mar testimony revd; Colby, in response to question about when he learned of a 20-yr agreement between CIA and Justice Dept that exempted CIA employes from criminal prosecutions, says he did not know of agreement until last Dec; Colby gives subcom exch of correspondence bewteen CIA and Justice dept in early '54 setting out terms of the then-secret agreement and which shows that then-Deputy Atty Gen William P Rogers was active participant in its drafting; Rogers told NY Times on June 10 that he remembered no such agreement (M)

major local financial insts have agreed to buy, for their own portfolios, more than half of $1-billion in bonds to be offered by Munic Assistance Corp; commitment to purchase bonds by banks, investment concerns, ins cos and savings insts is praised by corp officials as clear demonstration of investor confidence in marketability of what is described as largest sale ever of tax-free securities; Gov Carey asserts 'this is a very sound offering of a good issue,' echoing hopeful statements of Mayor Beame, various corp dirs and execs with Morgan Guaranty Trust Co and Salomon Bros, 2 negotiating underwriters for sale; Beame illus with corp member Felix G Rohatyn (M)

City is facing some financial problems, although not as big as NYC's, largely because its local govt has more supportive relationship with central govt; London's bureaucratic machinery, while simpler than NY's, is cumbersome, wages and other munic costs are soaring, and local debts have nearly doubled in last yr; debts run to $10.5-billion, taking combined obligations of Greater London Council, equivalent of City Hall, together with those of London's 33 components, which are 32 boroughs and old City of London; Greater London Council deputy leader Illtyd Harrington says there could come time when London will face credibility crisis, both as safe bet for lenders and as provider of services; similar warning was sounded recently by Environment Sec Anthony Crosland, whose dept excercises tight control of London's finances and spending priorities; 1 result of warnings has been gradual slowing of capital spending; taxes on property owners, major source of revenue, has increased 48% in last yr; situation in NYC is watched carefully by London officials; Brit Govt provides London, as well as rest of nation, with major services that NYC must finance alone; Greater London Council Comptroller of Financial Services Maurice Stonefrost, Croydon borough budget dir Noel Hepworth and Hackney borough leader Sir Lou Sherman comment; illus of Harrington and Crosland (L)

Sen Warren M Anderson suddenly withdraws Repubs' no-strings-attached offer of $150-million in new taxing power for NYC and asserts he will insist on single bill providing $277.5-million in taxing power but totolly contingent on increased state school-aid pkg, news conf; says that $150-million offer, which Mayor Beame was so sure of that City Council included it in $12.087-billion budget it passed, had been 'just thrown out kind of casually'; Deputy Mayor Stanley M Friedman terms proposal 'outrageous' and asserts that 10,000 out of 37,000 anticipated layoffs, which had been rescinded when $150-million was apparently made available, would now have to go through (M)