Evening star., 1942-07-24
Small Attendance
Hampers Congress
Writer Tells How Members
Abstain From Voting
Even When Present
By Bertrdm Benedict.

By Bertrdm Benedict.
A Senate quorum call on Monday, July
13, showed 81 Senators (almost two
thirds present, IS absent. OF the IS
absentees, 4 as members of the Truman
committee were investigating national
defense, l was reported i'll, l was re-
ported ''on public business" 20 were
reported necessarily absent" The alb
sences hardly can be laid at the door of
the forthcoming elections. inasmuch as
only of the 20 Senators reported
necessarily absent face election con-
tests this year.
The House convened and adjourned
on July l3 without checking on whether
a quorum was present. During the week
beginning July a roll call in the House
on sales of Government-held crops
showed 244 mot quite so per cent? mem
bers voting, 1873 not voting. (Sixteen Of
the 188 were paired on the question:
Fifty-two members of the Senate
voted on the bill for loans on the basic
crops at 100 per cent parity. -Four
teen additional Senators were paired on
the question. aside from general pairs)
In the previous week SO Senator's voted
on confirming the Meaney nomination
with others specifically paired In
the House vote on June 80 on ending
the CCC, $40 members (81 per cent?
voted.
The Constitution provides that ma
joriry of the members of each House
shall constitute quorum. If there is no
quorum. those members present are au-
thorized to compel the attendance of
absent members, in such manner, and
under such penalties, as each House
may provide" In the early days, mem
bers were paid on per diem basis for
actual attendance, but in 1855 remuner-
alton was placed on an annual basis
An act OF 1865, still on the statute books
but no longer enforced, provides that
a member Of Congress shall be docked
the amount OF his salary for each day
he is absent except for illness
Theoretically, the sergeant t-at arms of
each House is empowered to arrest ab-
sent members and bring them to the
Capitol just as theoretically an absent
member resisting such a call may be
held in contempt Of his House. Action
taken without a quorum present is
legally valid If the point of no quorum
Is not raised.
For many years members of the House
opposed to pending bill would try to
prevent action on it by refusing to re-
spond on a quorum roll call In 1890,
Speaker Reed initiated the practice of
counting members present but not re-
spending. in order to obtain a quorum.
The Reed practice is now followed in
the House. The Senate rules allow
Senators present" to be counted toward
q quorum Each House has a rule
another dead letter-declaring that no
member shall absent himself or refrain
from voting unless excused for reason.
Prior to the present administration
Congress seldom sat through the sum-
mer unless in special session. In the
summer of 1913, Representative Under
wood had great difficulty in obtaining
in the House the quorum necessary to
pass the tariff bill which bore his name.
In the numbered years, members
up for denomination and for e-election
complain that it is unfair to hold them
in Washington while their opponents
actively campaign against them at home.
The goth amendment was delayed for
year by insistence of the House on
a provision automatically ending the
second regular session of each Congress
on May 4.