After some debate, the matter was referred to a special subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee, which held secret hearings chaired by John H. Kerr.

[1][2] Kerr proposed as part of the appropriations bill a section denying the payment of a salary to Watson, Dodd, and Lovett.

[3] To define what a bill of attainder was for purpose of American law, the Court looked back to Cummings v. Missouri (1867) and Ex Parte Garland (1866).

[4] Following the Supreme Court's decision, the Republican-controlled House Appropriations Committee refused to allocate the $2,158 (about $37,997 today) to return the back salary to the three men.

[5][6] However, in the same budget in which the entire House authorized the back pay for the three men, it again tried to deny funding for the salary of Edgar Warren, the Director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service;[7] on this issue, Senator William F. Knowland refused to budge on the issue and the House eventually agreed to fund Warren's salary (although he resigned after the appropriation was passed).