Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-03-10
SHORT PROGRAM is SEEN
AS EXTRA SESSION NEARS
Leaders of New House, Holding Whip,
Favor Limitation to Four
Subjects.
BY MARK SULLIVAN.

TINE Government program Just
ahead of us is clear and easy
to follow. There will be spe-
/ cial session of Congress in April.
1t will be of the new, not the
old Congress. The distinction is not
very material The personnel of the
two houses has changed very little. In
the new Congress both houses will be
Republican, as they were in the old. In
the Senate the Republicans will have
markedly more comfortable majority
and in the Lower House a slightly larger
majority.
In the new set-up, the conditions that
are new are, first, the President. To
the extent that Mr.. Hoover differs from
Mr.. Coolidge there is a new condition.
To the extent that Mr.. Hoover may
show initiative, compared with Mr..
Coolidge's trait of refraining from mi
tiative, there Is new condition that
may turn out to be important.
There is one other new condition that
is historically important. In sense
the larger leverage of power in Congress
seems to have passed from the Senate
to the House. One would guess that for
the first time in many years it is the
House that will have the larger power
and the greater initiative.
Achieve Greater Solidarity.
It is not so much that the personnel
of the Senate has deteriorated, though
that Is often asserted 1t Is not so much
that the personnel of the Lower House
has improved. What has come about is
that the Republicans of the Lower
House have achieved greater solidarity
and show more general and willing
disposition to follow their official lead
erS.
Most potent Of all, the Republicans
of the Lower House look upon Mr..
Hoover as their President, rather than
the Senate's President. 1t has been
usual1almost universal-that the Sem
ate has had the larger hand in nomi-
mating Presidents. The nomination of
Harding, for example, was almost solely
the work of the Senate. Last year,
however, the Senators did not want Mr..
Hoover. The Lower House did. OF the
235 Republicans in the Lower House,
about 167 were Hoover men. Most of
them worked for Hoover in their re-
spective districts. They have feeling
that they had a large hand in bringing
about Mr.. Eoovers elevation to the
presidency,
This it is, together with some other
conditions, that causes the Lower House
to have o self-conscious feeling of
power.
Program Simple and Short
The legislative program for the spe-
cial session Of the new Congress is
simple and short. The state Of mind
of the leaders of the Lower House
is one of determination to sit on the
lid" It is proposed that the subjects
taken up shall be strictly limited and
shall be-. roughly, not more than four.
To guarantee the limitation it Is pro-
posed TO organize only four out of
the 46 committees of the Lower House
The committee on rules and the COM
mittee on accounts viii be organized
because they are essential to the
functioning Of the House. The COM
mittee On agriculture will be organized
because farm relief Is one of the two
main subjects Of legislation. The COM
mittee on ways and means will be or
gained because the tariff will be the
other important item of legislation. Any
other legislation that the House lead
ers decide to take up will be dealt with
by means Of what Is called q special
rule
The Senate does not share the Houses
intention to limit legislation. The SEN
ate is disposed to take up any legisla-
ton that appeals to it. But as between
the two branches, the House has the
whip hand. It Is more compact and
more ably led. as explained above.
Moreover, this extra session is to be in
part tariff session. In all tariff
legislation. the House, under the Con-
stitution, has the initiative.
Whether the House leaders will be