DOCUMENTARY HISTORY OF THE FLORIDA CANAL 305

 Mr. CLIK. Mr. President, will the Senator yield?
 Mr. CONNALLY. Let me use a minute of my own time. The mere fact that a
committee has recommended it is sufficient. Is such action on the part of a
committee an authorization? The Senator from Missouri seems to contend that
before the Senate can consider an amendment it must be authorized by statutory
law enacted by both bodies of Congress. I now yield to the Senator from
Missouri.
 Mr. CLARx. Of course, the Senator is making exactly the argument the Senator
from Florida made a little while ago--
 Mr. CONNALLY. Mr. President-
 Mr. CLanB. Just a moment. Which points the reason for the rule; that is,
that this matter should have been considered properly by the committee having
Jurisdiction of it Now, this proposition is before a standing committee of the
Senate, having jurisdiction, which has not reported on it, but, without waiting
for the committee which has jurisdiction to make its report, it is sought to be
brought in here and added as an amendment on the appropriation bill.
 Mr. CONNALLY. The Senator from Texas is simply trying to show that the
 Senator from Missouri is incorrect in his narrow, legalistic construction of the
rule and the Senator from Texas is showing why the Senate in the rule provided
for the exceptions mentioned. The rule did not stop when it said if a committee
had recommended it, then it would be in order, but it proceeds to say, "Or
proposed in pursuance of an estimate submitted in accordance with law."
 The Senator from Missouri contends that every time the Budget Bureau sub-
 mits an estimate we then have to sit down and figure out whether or not the
 law under which he acted was constitutional or was beyond our power.
 Mr. President, in passing upon rules and their construction, the Chair is sup-
 posed to assume that a law is a law until it is declared to be void. The Chair
 cannot pass on the constitutionality of a statute.
 Mr. BA&axzy. Mr. President-
 The PREBDING OrFIo. Does the Senator from Texas yield to the Senator
 from Kentucky?
 Mr. CONNALLY. I yield.
 Mr. BAznLzy. Suppose Congress authorized the President to build a battleship
 at a cost of $20,000,000 and when its construction had been nearly completed he
 discovered that it would take $21,000,000; could it be contended, because by the
 original authorization he was directed to spend $20,000,000, that Congress
 could not appropriate an additional $1,000,000 in order to complete the construc-
 tion of the battleship?
 Mr. CONNALLY. It could be contended, but not soundly contended.
 Mr. BAKaxzy. I mean soundly contended.
 Mr. CONNALLY. Mr. President, let me suggest to Senators who are worried
 about the authority of the Senate, who are disturbed about the Senate giving
 up some authority, suppose rule XVI were not in existence, the Senate could
 do whatever it pleased; it could consider any item of appropriation, whether it
 was on an appropriation bill or whether it was on a legislative bill or on any
 other kind of bill. Rule XVI is a limitation on the power of the Senate, and
 those who are asserting the Senate is going to be hogtied should realize that
 we have tied ourselves by our own rule. A rule of that kind must be narrowly
 construed. It is a limitation on the constitutional authority of the Senate itself,
 and the Chair, the courts, and no one else should give a broad construction to a
 limitation on the constitutional power of the Congress. So, in construing this
 rule, the Chair has got to indulge the most liberal construction, because, without
 the rule, the Senate could consider anything, at any time, anywhere.
 Mr. President, though we have an estimate here from the Bureau of the
 Budget, submitted in accordance with law, the Senator from Missouri seems to
 contend that we have got to go back and investigate the original act. What
 does that mean? It means according to the law which provides that the Budget
 Bureau shall submit estimates or the Department shall submit estimates. That
 is what the law means. It does not mean that a Senator may submit an esti-
 mate; it does not mean that some clerk may submit an estimate; but the law
 provides that a department or the Bureau of the Budget may submit estimates;
 and if those estimates are submitted in the manner provided for their submis-
 sion, then such action comes within the rule. It does not mean that the law
 under which the appropriation was authorized had to be constitutional or any-
 thing else; but it means that in submitting an estimate, if they follow the method
 set forth by the statute providing for estimates, then, under this rule, it is in
 order.