The Ely miner., 1933-05-26
OuvGouerumeut
How 1t Operates
By William Brxckart
PASSING A BILL

IT rs an obvious fact that the odds,
and they are heavy odds. are al
ways against the passage of the aver
age piece of legislation introduced in
the house or senate. The reason Is
that there are actually thousands Of
them. In the ordinary session of con-
gress there will be from 5000 to 5000
bills offered in the senate. and three
or four times that number presented
In the house. The number Of bills
that eventually become law is quite
small.
So the fact that a bill receives ap-
proval Of the committee to which Il
was referred and that it has been
given place on the calendar of busi-
ness, assures nothing at all insofar
as the average legislative proposal is
concerned. There always are certain
types of bills that will receive atten-
tion on the floor of the house and sem
ate. but they are negligible in number.
To be sure, then, that the bill we
will discuss can have final action and
will not find its way into pigeon
hole Of committee room or be al
ness with no record of having lived
at all. let US take the case of the bill
creating the Reconstruction Finance
corporation, passed by the last con-
gress. Legislation of that type was
recommended by the President. No
cnnnor hod oonnracc oonrapod
bills Of identical language were in
troduced In both the house and the
senate. This was done to enable rap
Id consideration, since 1t was recog-
nized that the legislation was urgent
ly necessary.
1t received consideration In the
house after this manner; following the
committee report, two whole days
were given over to a general discus
sion Of the legislation. Representa-
tives were allowed considerable time
each In which to talk about it-and
other things that came into their
minds. At the end of that general
debate" the reading Of the bill began.
Although the visitor In the gallery
could hardly make out what was go
Ing on, the reading clerk was read
ing every line of the bill that was to
set up a gigantic. federal-owned cor
poration which could make loans to
help out banks, railroads, insurance
companies, etc., who were sound but
whose assets were tied up as a re-
suit Of the depression. Following that
reading the bill was "open to amend
ment," and 1t was then that the house
membership individually began to
exert the power that reposes In them.
Eventually, amendments were accept
ed or rejected until majority of the
members were satisfied with the bill,
or at least enough of them were sat
lsfied with 1t to constitute a control
ling group. roll call was had and
the bill was passed.
Attendants Of the house scurried
around and made true copy" of
the bill, and one of them carried It
over to the north end Of the Capitol
where the senate sits. This had to
be done while the senate was in ses-
sion.
Through the same routine of COM
mittee procedure in the senate. 1t went.
II was reported with a recommenda-
ton that 1t be passed but with amend
ments," for the senate committee had
other ideas. The senate voted to give
the bill it's immediate attention, and
70 FOL
amendments were proposed and some
Of them were accepted by the senate,
and in the end the bill as It came from
the house was hard to recognize in
the language which the senate passed
as the shape In which 1t wanted the
law to be.
senate messenger then had the
duty Of advising the house that the
Reconstruction bill" as 1t had come
to be known. had been passed by the
senate but that 1t had been amended.
OF course, the concurrence of the
house was requested but everybody
knew that the house would not con-
cur just that way. Instead. the house
requested "a conference" with the SEN
ate, and the senate agreed. Each
house then named FIVE Of it's men,
bers-they always are from the COM
mittee that handled the bill-and In
due time these ten individuals tried
to reach an accord on the terms of
the legislation in a meeting among
themselves.
This Is where the greatest game of
horse trading In the world has its be-
ginning. Each house wanted the bill
the way It was passed. but each house
obviously could not have II that way.
SO these ten conferees began swap
ping. The senate group says. for ex-
ample, we will give up this amend
ment If the house will give up that
proposition. and they work along, al
ways behind closed doors for that is
the only way possible for them to
reach an agreement. The whole affair
Is not unlike the story of the two boys
In the cemetery: "You take this one
and I'll take that one" Except that
the frightened colored man. who
thought the souls of the departed were
being divided, Is absent from the pro-
ceedings.
Ordinarily. these groups OF con-
ferees settle things satisfactory to the
house and senate which In turn agree
TO the conference report and the bill
goes to the President for his sigma
ture. They did agree in the case men-
toned, but sometimes they don't and
they are ordered back into confer
ence again and again vntil all Of the
differences have been reconcfled.
@. 1882 Western Newspaper Union.
Uncle Eben
sIn some respects" said Uncle