Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-01-19
House Rules.

House Rules.
Periodically there arises a demand for
a reform of the rules Of the House Of
Representatives. The demand is al
ways for more liberal rules rules that
will permit the individual member of
the House greater leeway to get before
the House legislative measures in which
he is interested Such demand is adj
vanced now by a considerable number of
the House members, who feel that the
fate of too much legislation rests under
present conditions with a few leaders,
including the Speaker, the chairman OF
the Rules Committee and one or two
Others The opinion is advanced that
the leaders among the Republicans of
the House are prepared to make certain
concessions to the progressive Republi-
cans in connection with the rules, pro-
vided the insurgents are willing to line
up with the Republicans in the or
ganization of the House in the next
| Congress The insurgents will hold the
balance of power in any event.
The House has a membership total
ing 435. plus the Delegates and Com
missionerS from Territories and posses
sions of the United States. 1t is obvious
that it would be impossible for that
body to do business without more or
less rigid rules. Such a rule as that
Of the Senate, for example, which per-
mitS unlimited debate would render
the House entirely imperative and fu-
tile. There Is, however, proper meas
ure Of freedom which should be in
cluded In the rules of the House, grant,
ing Q majority of that body the right
at all times to rule Indeed, there are
plenty of members today who will in
sist that the majority in the House
always controls. That was the conten-
, ton of the late uncle Joe" Cannon,
for many wears Speaker and frequently
referred to as the "Czar" of the House.
There was a revolt against "czarisn"
in the House during the Cannon regime,
and the rules were amended finally so
as to curtail the powers of the
Speaker. Now the effort is to curtail
the powers Of the Rules Committee, as
well as of the Speaker and the floor
leader Of the majority. Among the pro-
poSals advanced is one which would
enable the House to vote on the dis
charge Of a standing committee from
further consideration of a bill, pro-
videc a petition to discharge be signed
by one hundred members of the House
Under the existing rules such a petit
ton must be signed by one hundred
and fifty members.
Still another proposal would make it
possible for the majority Of q standing
committee Of the House to hold a
meeting Of the committee to consider
legislation, even though the chairman
Of the committee did not call such a
meeting and there was no specified
regular day for meetings Of that COM
mittee. The charge is made that chair
men Of committees have arbitrarily
prevented consideration of bills referred
to their committees by the simple ex-
pedient Of never calling their commit
tees together. A third proposal would
make II possible TO discharge the Com
mittee on Rules from further consid-
Grafton Of a special rule for handling
particular piece of legislation and
! bring that rule before the House for
consideration.
The charge is made that too many
measures which might have the support
Of a majority Of the House today are
pigeonholed by the action of the leaders,
tied up in committee, in conference, or
before the Rules Committee. A case in
point is the Couzens resolution, passed
by the Senate last session, which would
prevent further consolidation of rail-
roads under the transportation act, up-
til Congress has had chance to pass
upon them. Still another is the Muscle
Shoals matter, hung up for months lin
conference" between the two houses.
| Representative Crisp, Georgia, Demo-
crat, has submitted amendments to the
rules to effect these proposed reforms.
His particular aim is to shear the Rules
Committee of its great powers and make
it, as he says, the servant instead of
the master of the House.
Party control in the House has al
ways been far stronger than in the
Senate, due to the more rigid. governing
rules. The party which organizes and
controls the next House will have to
determine whether it wishes to break
down this party control. 1t is not a
matter which will be lightly under
taken. While the Republicans are in
control Of the House today, 1t is well
understood that the Democrats NAV he