July 23, 1975

HR, 262-167, rejects Pres Ford's proposal for gradual decontrol of oil price; Repr John J Rhodes and Sens Mike Mansfield and Hugh Scott hope for compromise before Aug recess; new Ford plan is expected, although Ron Nessen says no compromise alternative to plan rejected by HR is being worked out at White House; Fed Energy Admr Frank Zarb meets with Sens; Dems reveal study by House Commerce Com projecting Ford decontrol plan would result, by end of '77, in 800,000 more persons unemployed, 2% increase in consumer price index and additional cost to avg family of $700-900 a yr; Repr Brock Adams says it would cause massive shift of income from consumers to oil cos; repr Clarence J Brown challenges rept, asserting decontrol plan would add only 0.5% to rate of inflation and have insignificant effect on unemployment; says contination of controls would mean continued transfer of wealth to oil exporters; Mansfield suggests compromise plan that would stretch out decontrol over 4-6 yrs, remove oil import fee and impose stiff windfall profits tax; Rhodes says Adm may propose lengthening of phase-out period and lower ceiling price (M)

Illus of Christina Onassis being embraced by bridegroom Alexandros Andreadis (S)

Samuel Hausman, fund-raiser and friend of former Gov Rockefeller, says he interceded on behalf of Bernard Bergman nursing home with Depts of Health and Mental Hygiene and Div of Human Rights and offices of both Rockefeller and Gov Malcolm Wilson, testimony before 2d hearing of Moreland Act Comm on nursing homes; according to testimony, other pol figures whose names have been linked to Danube Nursing Home case include NYS Sen Marchi, former Deputy Mayor Stanley H Lowell and C Daniel Chill, legis aid to Assembly Speaker Stanley Steingut; it is disclosed that Bergman was going to give half interest in proposed nursing home to Hausman's cousin Marvin Glickman, who sold drugs to a Bergman home; Dr Andrew Fleck, former 1st deputy health comr, describes pol pressures on behalf of Bergman as 'coming from all directions--bipartisan'; says he was 'ordered' to attend meeting concerning Danube with Bergman; Fleck's testimony contradicts testimony given July 21 by T Norman Hurd, former chief of staff to Rockefeller and Wilson; Robert R Douglass, former Rockefeller sec, confirms he represented Bergman after he resigned from Rockefeller's office to go into private practice; Robert Patton, deputy dir of Mental Hygiene Dept, says in April '74 he approved Danube, by then called Island View, as facility for patients to be transferred from Willowbrook; says he had been under pressure from Amram Kass, Bergman's son-in-law, and from Hausman and had also been under pressure to reduce overcrowding at Willowbrook; illus of Wilson, Fleck, Abram and comm counsel S Andrew Schaffer (M)

Cong agrees to restore Robert E Lee's citizenship; Robert E Lee 4th is present when HR, 407-10, approves Sen-passed resolution; he comments; Pres Ford is expected to sign resolution, 110 yrs after Lee 1st started his appeal for restoration of citizenship he lost by commanding Confederate troops; HR approval comes over objections of several Northerners who argued that it should include amnesty for Vietnam war draft evaders; Repr Elizabeth Holtzman says HR should consider the living and Repr John Conyers Jr scoffs that resolution is nothing more than bit of 'Bicentennial fluff; others voting against resolution are Reprs Bella Abzug, James H Scheuer, Robert M Carr, Robert V Dellums, Augustus F Hawkins, Fortney H Stark, George Miller and James M Jeffords; Sen Harry F Byrd (Va) spearheaded drive for Sen passage and Va delegation in HR united in pushing it through body; Repr M Caldwell Butler comments; illus of Lee (M)

Labor Dept repts Consumer Price Index for June at 160.6, up 0.8% both before and after seasonal adjustment, largest increase far mo this yr and double increase in May; prime factors are higher prices for meat, gasoline and used cars; food-price rise is 1.5%, largest since last Sept; Pres assistant L William Seidman, White House press sec Ron Nessen and Treas Sec William E Simon comment on rept; chart of consumer prices nationally and for NY-Northeastern NJ by major categories (M)