Evening star., 1935-01-04
NEW HOUSE RULE
TO AID PRESIDENT
Suppression of Bills in Com
mittee Made Easier by
Regulation.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

Back TO the Old Deal, the good old
days" when Congress was master OF
Itself, went the House of Representa-
tives on the very first day of its ses-
sion this week. and the significance
of that step will be felt at least for
the next two years and maybe longer
It means, in a nutshell, that the
majority will determine what shall
or shall not be considered by the
House itself and that committees
action in suppressing bill and pre-
venting 1t from getting to the floor of
the House for action will be final, ur-
less the majority says to the contrary.
It was the Democratic party. jealous
to protect the rights Of the minority,
which brought in the rule in Decem-
her, 1881, that if l45 members OF the
House wanted to force committee
to report bill, this could be accom-
plished by means of a petition COM
prising l45 signatures.
Embarrassing Last Session.
But that las rule was responsible
for considerable embarrassment to the
Democrats at the last session of Con-
press. For it meant that 100 Repub-
1icans, for instance. and about 40 dis
contented Democrats could stir up
trouble for the majority and for the
administration.
The reason is that when a bill
comes up for roll call, the members
must vote "yes" or mo" when, as a
matter of fact, they would prefer not
to vote at all on some controversial
issues which mean political damage
to them, no matter how they vote.
The business of being forced to record
ones self has been responsible for the
passage in the House of more legis-
lation which the members privately
would like to have seen killed than
any other single parliamentary device
in Congress.
It is true that the minority will
cry gag rule" and taunt the Demo
Gratis for doing what majorities have
done before, but there can be nc
question about the fact that the
change in the rules Just voted really
does put the responsibility where IL
belongs, namely, on the majority.
New Rules Aid President.
There is nothing to prevent groups
like the American Legion or the
American Federation of Labor from
trying to get a majority of members
to sign petition to discharge COM
mittee which may be trying to sup
press a piece of legislation, but it i!
harder to get 2l8 names than it i!
to get las, especially when the ad.
ministration sends word to Capito
Hill that it doesn't want particular
measure pressed for passage.
The new rules protect the President
against what he may believe to be
irresponsible elements in Congress
Thus, even the Senate, by coalition
of Republicans and Democrats, might
put through a bill, but if the admin
istration wanted it blocked, the new
procedure would permit the bill to be
stalled in the House. For there come
times when the President is 10 the
same position as members of Con-
gress; that Is, when he may wish to be
spared the embarrassment politically
OF veto message.
Often Caused Difficulty
Often when a measure does come tt
vote in the House or Senate ano
public sentiment begins to crystalline
behind it, there is difficulty in ward
ing of the bill by veto without po-
htical reprecussions. The minority's
favorite strategy is to put bills up to
be shot at. They used to call them
''pop-gun" bills, but the Republicans
had, as general proposition, suffi-
cient control to prevent them from
getting beyond committee consider
alton and often times they were able
to bring it about that a majority vote
in a committee would decide not to
take up a certain bill.
There can certainly be no excuse
for House rebellion of any kind at
this session The administration
ought to be able to control completely
and comprehensively The Democrats
have learned that the 145 names on
petitions would cause them trouble,
as it did in the past, and they acted
promptly to avert it. Thus, at the
last session, the soldier bonus bill
was forced to be considered by means
Of the petition, and the same kind Of
effort was made in connection with
the Mcleod bill to pay off the de-
positors in closed banks, measure
which the administration distinctly
did not favor.
The latest move. therefore, is in the
direction OF orderly and responsible
Government and gives Mr.. Roosevelt
the chance to issue his instructions
to Congress with the feeling that they
can be followed without minority OBJ
strllction