INSIDE CONGRESS

Big Reorganizations in 1946 and 1970 ...

The Senate in 1982 asked former Sens. James B
half century ago, t he country was at war. Americans
Pearson, R-Kan., and Abraham A. Ribicoff, D-Conn., ~
were subject to strict rationing. Then Congress
recommend ways to make Senate procedures more effi.
voted to give itself new pension benefits and unlimited
cient. The Senate did little more than hold brief hearing
access to gasoline. The public response was not pret~y.
on their recommendations, which included limits on deThe Junior Chamber of Commerce began collectmg
bate, rules to enforce senators' attendance and eliminaold clothes, used shoes and other junk to send to "needy"
tion of subcommittee staff. (1983 Almanac, p. 598)
politicians in Washington. "Bundles for Congress," t he
In 1984 then-Sen. Dan Quayle, R-Ind., was put in
program was called, according to a history written by
charge of t he Temporary Select Committee to Study the
Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va.
Senate Committee System. At its recommendation, the
That 1942 explosion of public fury eventually helped
Senate managed in 1985 to make
impel Congress to conduct a rootmodest reductions in the number of
and-branch review of how it did busicommittees each senator was asness. The result: A 1946 Jaw that was
Would-be reformers face an signed to. But other recommends
the most far-reaching reorganization
tions were ignored, and senators'
uphill battle. Congress has
committee assignments later in
of Congress in history.
That was just one of many at- initiated at least eight formal creased again.
tempts by Congress to overhaul its
Not all efforts to change Congress
operations in the decades since studies of the House or Senate have fai led. Sen. David L. Boren, D
World War II. Some worked, some since 1946, and few resulted in Okla., has modeled his current initia
didn't, and many efforts died on the
tive on the two he considers the most
major changes.
vine. But they aU had one thing in
successfu l - the 1946 Legislative Re
common: They came at a time when
organization Act and the 1970 Legis
Congress was beset by external critilative Reorganization Act. Both were based on the rec
cism and taut with internal frustration.
ommendations of bipartisan, House-Senate committees
That's why many people think the current political
like the one Boren is proposing. (Reform proposals, p.
climate is ripe for change.
1579)
" We wouldn't be here if Congress was not under
siege," Thomas E. Mann, a political scientist at the
1946: Fewer Committees, More Staff
Brookings Institution, said at a recent hearing on instituThe impetus for revamping Congress in the 1940s
tional reform.
arose from complaints that Capitol Hill was ill-equipped
to respond to the expansion of presidential power and
Efforts That Ran Aground
workload of the postwar era.
growing
1f history is any guide, would-be reformers face an
The Congress of the 1940s had only about one-sixth
uphill battle. Congress has initiated at least eight formal
the staff it has today, and most aides were clerical or
studies of the House or Senate since 1946, and few recustodial. Capitol Hill was honeycombed with commit
sulted in major changes. Among the casualties:
tees with duplicative, outmoded or narrow jurisdictions
A 1973-74 panel, headed by Rep. Richard Bolling, D- including such subjects as interoceanic canals and
Mo., proposed an ambitious restructuring of House comflood control. Politically, the place was dominated by a
mittees. It met with fierce opposition from members
conservative coalition of Southern Democrats and Re
whose committee jurisdiction would have been diminpublicans.
ished and from outside groups whose established lobbyP ressures for change came from many quarters. The
ing relationships would have been disrupted. The DemoAmerican Political Science Association set up a panel to
cratic Caucus voted 111-95 to sidetrack the plan in favor
study Congress' failings. Rep. Everett McKinley Dirksen,
of an alternative that largely preserved the status quo.
R-111., delivered a speech entitled, "What Is Wrong With
(1974 Almanac, p. 634)
Congress?" The public heaped scorn on the institution.
The 1976-77 House Commission on Administrative
In response, Congress in 1945 set up a Joint Commit
Review, headed by Rep. David R. Obey, 0 -Wis., develtee on t he Organization of Congress and named Sen.
oped broad recommendations to change how the House
Robert~- LaFollette Jr., Prog-Wis., chairman and Rep.
was managed and take another stab at reworking the
A. S. Mtke Monroney, D-Okla., vice chairman.
committee system. The House refused, on a 160-252 vote,
The ~anel_'s recommendations were the basis of the
to bring the bill to the floor. (1 977 Almanac, p . 792)
1946 Legt~lattve Reorganiza tion Act. Although many of
Even a modest approach to restructuring House comthe resultmg changes were short-lived, the law reshaped
mittees, by a 1979-80 panel headed by Rep. Jerry M.
the Ho~e !l"d enate so drastically that some consider it
Patterson, D-Calif., went down in flames. Only one of its
the, begu~nmg of _t~e modern era in Congress. Under the
five recommendations made it to the House floor - a plan
S maJOr prOVISIOns:
law
to pull energy jurisdiction from three panels and create a
!he num ber of committees was reduced from 33 to
new Energy Committee. It was defeated, and all the House
15 m the
d and from 48 to 19 in the H ouse.
h t enate
did was rename the Commerce Committee the Energy and
Eac s an mg committee was authorized to appoint

Commerce Committee. (1980 Almanac, p . 562)

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INS I DE CO NGRE SS

... Were Exceptions to the Rule of Stasis

four professional and six clerical staff members.
handled by the ol?-school committee system, which was
A Joint Budget Committee was established to write
better at obstructmg than moving legislation.
The 1970 act did not go as far as the 1946 law in
an annual budget resolution to set a ceilin g on spending
restructuring the system of committees, but it made
and show estimates of total receipts and expenditures.
other changes that broke ground in areas central to the
But the law's long-term legacy was a mixed picture.
workings of Congress today: opening Congress to more
Although the law reduced the number of committees,
public scrutiny and curbing the power of committee
subcommittees proliferated. The budget provisions of
chairmen.
the 1946 law were rendered moot within years, and the
Among other things, the law:
Joint Budget Committee was abandoned after 1949.
Provided for recorded votes on the House floor and
The law's success in establishing a professional staff
for Congress was an illustrarequired public disclosure of
~:--:--;:~--~::;;-,n~;:--=~7i!lllf'"l1
all committee roll calls;
tion of how one generation's
Aut horized radio and telereform is the next generavision broadcasts of committion's burden. Today, many
tee hearings;
see growth of staff as one of
Made it more difficult for
Congress' biggest problems.
committees to meet in closed
Roger H. Davidson, a Unisessions;
versity of Maryland political
Required committees to
scientist who has studied the
have written rules; and
1946 law, said the committee
Mandated that in most
budget
streamlining and
cases reports on bills must be
changes did not stick because
available t hree days before
they ran afoul of the prerogafloor debate.
tives of the conservative "barOther provisions of the
ons" of Congress.
to
designed
were
law
Davidson said that prominority-party
strengthen
vides a cautionary tale for all
righ ts, but House Democrats
reform efforts: Institutional
immediately rescinded
almost
changes are doomed to fail if
one of t he most important
they run against the grain of
changes - granting t he miexisting power structures.
nority one-third of each comMore successful, Davidson
mittee's funding for tempoPAn CHISHOLM
says, have been institutional
rary staff.
changes that "ratified political shifts that were taking
Walter Kravitz, an analyst with the Congressional
place." The best example of that, Davidson said, were
Research Service who has studied t he 1970 law, said t he
the reforms of the 1970s - which allowed a growing
"the most disappointing feature" of the act was its limliberal majority in Congress to get around and overturn
ited effect on curbing the powers of t he committee chairan outmoded power structure dominated by Southern
men.
conservatives.
But that was remedied in subsequent years - not by
a statute carefully crafted by a bipar tisan panel but in
1970: Open Meetings, Public Votes
the more volatile setting of the Democratic Party cauOne of the first steps in that process was the 1970
cuses.
belated
the
Legislative Reorganization Act. That law was
Through the 1970s, watershed changes in House
product of a bipartisan panel set up in 1965 - another
Democratic Caucus rules (and similar changes in the
Joint Committee on the Organization of Congress coSenate) broke the power of committee chai rmen and
chaired by Monroney (who by then had been elected to
weakened the seniority system by:
the Senate) and Rep. Ray J . Madden, D-Ind.
P ermitting secret ballot votes on the election of comFor decades, liberals had been frustrated by the
mittee chairmen;
power of the conservative Southerners who dominated
Stripping committee chairmen of the power to create
the committee leadership. That power t hwarted liberal
and appoint their chairmen; and
subcommittees
efforts to enact civil rights laws and, later, to end the
chairmen from holding more than
committee
Barring

numin
gained
Democrats
Vietnam War. But as liberal
chairmanship.
subcommittee
one
bers in Congress through the 1960s, they were able to
"Liberal national activism was in the driver's seat and
push through changes that weakened the conservative
overturned t he con t rol of t he old barons," Davidson said.
coalition.
"The opening of the process, the democratization of the
Congress was under pressure to retool to be more
Democrat ic Caucus and decentralization of power were
productive legislatively.
all ways of getting around the old power structure."
Great Society and War on P overty programs imposed
-Janet Hook
on Congress a legislative workload that could never be
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