Evening star., 1927-11-20
BY j. A. O'LEARY.

TIME proposal to change the
meeting time of Congress TO
January of each year. to elimi.
Il nate short sessions and to en-
able newly-elected members to
begin their service as legislators soon
after their election in November, will
be up for discussion again this Winter
on Capitol Hill.
Senator Norris of Nebraska, who
for a number of years has been a
leading advocate of this change i'll
procedure. has announced that as soon
as Congress conveneS next month he
will introduce his resolution to accom-
plish these reforms by constitutional
amendment.
Senate Has Favored Plan.
In making known his intention to
revive the question Senator Norris
pointed out a few days ago that the
Senate has passed the resolution three
times in recent years. but each time
it died i'm the House without being
acted upon. Whether the proposition
will progress any further in the new
Congress remains to be seen. but Sena-
tor Norris is optimistic. He believes
it will pass if it reaches a vote in
both branches of Congress. Passage
of the resolution woulf put the pro-
posal up to the States and three
fourths of them would have to ratify
it to make it effective.
Under present conditions the terms
of members of the House and one
third of the Senate expire on March
4 of every other year. With Congress
meeting in December the session OF
that year ends automatically after Il
little more than three months. New
members. elected in November, do not
take their seats at this short session
because the terms of the incumbents
continue until March. Except when
special session of the new Congress
is called Immediately after March 4.
the newly-elected members do not be-
gin to function as law makers untli
another December rolls >,round. or lo
months after election.
The proposed amendment would
bring the terms of President, Vice
President and members of the House
and Senate to an end in January and
would provide for the annual conven-
ing of Congress in the same month,
thereby bringing newly elected lesls'
lators into active service approXl'
mately two months after the Novem-
ber election.
Supporters of the resolution say
that in the early days of the Nation
there was need for a fairly long inter-
val of time between election day ana
the assembling of the new Congress.
because travel was slow and diffcuit
and the selection of senators depended
upon the time of meeting Of State
legislatures. They hold that with
modern transportation and the TACT
that senators and members OF the
House are now chosen at the same
election, there is no reason why the
- Ch
not begin its duties early in the cal
endar year following election.
Argument for Change.
In reporting on the subject during
the last Congress, the Senate judiciary
committee advanced the argument
that the campaign preceding election
brings out a discussion of the ques
tions awaiting the attention OF the
national legislature, and that it is
fair to presume that the members
elected represent the ideas of a ma
jority Of the people as to what legis.
lation is desirable. Pursuing this ar
gument further. the committee con.
cluded that the wishes of the major
ity, as indicated at the election, should
he shaped into legislation as soon as
possible thereafter
Under the proposed constitutional
amendment the new members of Con.
gress would come I'm early in January
and the terms of President and Vice
President would begin near the end of
the month, but in considering the
question in the past the Senate and
House committees have differed over
the details of this provision. The
Senate has voted to fix a certain day
of the week. such as the first Monday
in January for the assembling of Con.
gress and the third Monday for the
beginning of the terms of President
and Vice President. The House COM
mittee heretofore has favored a definite
date, such as January for the meet.
ing of Congress and January "a for
beginning the presidential and vice