Washington

Our men in the Senate: playing to the home crowd

By ROBERT MACKAY

YOU WOULD think Senator Charles H. Percy and Senator Alan J. Dixon would be a contrast in styles: one a somewhat bored veteran of Washington who knows his way around the Capitol and leisurely goes about his business, the other an energetic newcomer who frequently seeks advice and help in his new job.

Not true.

Percy, 61, who first joined the Senate in 1967, certainly knows his way around the Capitol, but whatever boredom he felt in his career disappeared when the Republicans took control of the Senate in the November elections and he became chairman of the influential Foreign Relations Committee.

"It's almost like a different job," Percy said. "It'smuch more interesting. You can be more creative and use initiative. And you can get so much more accomplished. It has increased my workload. The mail from Illinois has doubled. But the increased workload has been good; I've enjoyed it."

Dixon, 53, has been surprised by the workload. "It's truly an all-consuming job," he said, noting he gets about 11,000 pieces of mail a week from constituents. But, beaming a smile, he added: "I like the job just fine."

But Illinois' junior senator — a former state senator, state representative, treasurer and secretary of state — seemed irked at a suggestion he might need help or advice in his new job in Washington. "I know where to go to

get it done," Dixon said flatly. "When you've been in politics as long as I have, there's not too much to surprise you.

"There are more similarities with state government than differences. The hours are longer, the rules in the Senate are different, there's more money involved and there are more foreign policy questions. The most important difference is the total lack of time to yourself."

Dixon begins each morning at about 7:30, eating breakfast and taking the subway from his rented apartment near the Watergate complex to his Capitol office. After meeting "a variety of people from the state," he works on assignments on the Agriculture, Banking and Small Business committees, attends some receptions by lobbying groups, and then "almost every night, there's some dinner" hosted by special interest groups, which usually end around 9:30 p.m.

Veteran Congressman Paul Simon, who met Percy and Dixon at the Department of Energy one particular day to lobby the energy secretary for the coal gasification plant in Perry County, told Dixon: "I don't go to many dinners. Soon you'll develop my habits."

"Yeah," Dixon countered, "but the constituents love it." One such dinner was hosted by a group of cast metal fitters, and Dixon was the only U.S. senator there. "They really ate that up," Dixon said of his appearance.

Dixon and Percy not only work together to lobby for the coal gasification plant, but are co-sponsors of a bill (The Agricultural Export Protection Act of 1981) that would prohibit the president from embargoing agricultural exports to a particular country unless such an embargo is part of an across-the-board trade ban or receives prior approval by both houses of Congress.

While Percy "strongly supports" President Reagan's economic recovery program, he disagrees with the proposal to eliminate all federal funding for the coal gasification plant in Perry County. That's why he joined Dixon and Simon to lobby Energy Secretary

James Edwards for the plant.

Percy said, "We received a pledge from Secretary Edwards. Though the federal government will not finance it [fully], he [Edwards] will recommend it as a high priority project for study under the Synfuels Corp." Dixon said "there's still hope" for getting the plant built and added, "Tenacity means so much in a thing like this."

Percy and Dixon are both working to correct the "marriage penalty" in the income tax that forces married couples to pay more tax than singles living together.

Dixon is co-sponsor of a bill to get a one-year appreciation tax writeoff for anti-pollution devices, which he said would work as an incentive for industry to use more Illinois coal.

Percy has introduced legislation to increase the state inheritance tax exemption from $175,000 to $200,000, which he said is "the best way to help small farmers so they don't have to sell their farms to pay taxes."

In addition, Percy has introduced bills that would help the federal government collect the $25 billion in unpaid debts owed it, and would establish a minimum wage for youths between the ages of 16 and 19 at 85 percent of the adult minimum wage.

Percy said he is also using his position as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee to push for more exports of Illinois products. He told the administration he would travel to South Korea to represent the president at the inauguration of Korea's president if he could also set up meetings to try to convince Korean electric companies to convert to coal.

"As the new, self-declared export sales manager for all Illinois products," Percy said he has held meetings with high-ranking officials of Great Britain, Germany, France, Canada, Spain, Taiwan and Mexico. "One of every eight jobs in Illinois depends on exports," Percy said, "and I think that will increase."

Meanwhile, Dixon is nonchalant about all of the foreign policy questions he faces now. "Common sense applications . . . work pretty well" in that area, he said confidently.□

May 1981/Illinois Issues/37