Evening star., 1946-07-21
Joint D. C. Committee
Becomes q Real Need
Legislation and Appropriations
Found at Cross Purposes

BY John w. Thompson, Jr.
For prime example of the right hand
not knowing what the left hand Is doing,
Of wasted effort, OF overlapping opera
tions, and Of the chaotic administration
that follows absence of coordination,
one needs to look no further than the
government Of the District by four sep
arate congressional committees.
This is not in any sense the fault Of
| the committees or their members. It
is case Of Congress attempting to apply
ordinary procedures to very extraordi.
nary situation.
The extraordinary situation results
from the language in the Constitution
which vests exclusive control over
teeming city OF close to q million souls
In q group from other parts Of the
country whose primary mission here is
anything but seeing to the interests Of
District citizens. Courts have cast doubt
on the extent that this constitutional
authority can be delegated.
Unusual7 You almost have to 60 to
| the defeated Axis countries to find q
comparable example of . population
under the absolute control Of representa-.
tives Of other geographical areas. Ger.
tainly the obligation with respect to
the District is unique with Congress.
| Yet to carry out this obligation Con.
gress has relied upon four committees
on the ordinary procedural theory that
for the District, as for other matters, leg
islation and appropriation are separate
functions. Thus, in the House, there is
the House District Committee for legis-
lation and the House Appropriations
Committee to provide the money. A
similar setup exists in the Senate.
1t Is not unlikely that in the early days
Of both Congress and the District, this
may have operated with few complica-
tions. In the mature stages Of both, 1t
no longer does.
The present fiscal relationship be-
tween the city and the Federal Govern
ment provides an excellent example of
why this is so. Although the split was
legislatively fixed at 6o-40 in the annual
expenses, rider to an appropriation
bill set up an arbitrary 1ump-sum pay
ment in 1925 completely disregarding the
| proportionate arrangements Later the
| proportionate plan was repealed. Yet
only this month members of the House
objected to increasing the lump-su
payment because there exists no legts-
lative authority to do SO!
The fact Is that, while 1t loudly con-
demns the practice, the House Appro.
priations Committee has invaded for
many years the legislative field. In the
early 30s it legislated out of existence
the Districts 100000 highway testing
laboratory and required the wokr to be
done at the Bureau of Standards de-
spite objections fro mthe District then
and now. A few years later 1t tackled
legislative proviso to District budget
requiring teachers to disavow commun.
ism by monthly afidavit before they
could draw their pay. In one instance
the committee even undertook to- clas-
sify and fix the salary of an employe OF
the Tranic Department at a much
higher rate than the Civil Service Com
mission would approve. The budget
for the current fiscal year requires per-
sonnel to disclaim membership in any
organization asserting the right to
strike against the Government.
On the other hand the legislative
group, without consulting those who
must provide the money, Is constantly
sponsoring measures that do not origi-
nate with city oficials planning the al
locations Of city funds. The recent salary
increases for police and firemen and for
school teachers are examples of this,
Perhaps the best recent example Is the
bill compelling the Commissioners to
operate day-care nursery centers at q
cost of from $250,000 to $3.50, 900 after
the city heads strongly opposed the pro-
posal. All OF these measures saddle big
bills on the city without regard to ability
to pay.
The solution to present difficulties ID
perhaps suggested by Representative
Randolph, Democrat, OF West virginia
for more than II years a member of the
House Legislative Committee for the
District and for six years its chairman.
1T is my considered opinion" Mr..
Randolph told the Joint Committee on
Reorganization of Congress, after
study and experience in that position,
that We have reached the time when
we should have one joint Senate House
committee on the District of Columbia. {"
Such committee, Mr. Randolph sug.
gested, should be composed OF 81 mem.
bers with alternating chairmen from
the House and Senate each two years.
He further recommended an associate
chairman to be Senate or House MEM
ber according to the chairman at the
time.
In that manner" Mr. Randolph con.
tinued, I'VE would alleviate or obviate
the duplication of testimony that comes
largely from the District OF Columbia
oficials in connecting with pending leg.
islation. Most of the measures that
come before the District Committee are
not Of controversial nature. do not
mean that they lack Importance, be-
cause as long as Congress is charged
with the responsibility Of legislating for
this District of Columbia, We have a
very definite responsibility. But by and
large, the measures that come before us
are Of a type where 1t Is unnecessary to
repeat the testimony of witnesses in
both the House and Senate"
This would. he pointed out, save time
and money.
| fnivat ey,&tx