Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1947-02-14

pressed the intention to abide by the
reorganization plan accepted by the
10Th congress, and that one of the
purposes of this plan was to elm
mate the special committee, the SEN
ate Republicans fought hard to ex-
tend the life of these two specials"
and they won.
But so much attention was direct
ed toward the issue that Senator
Taft fastened to make it clear
later that creation Of further spe-
cial committees would be a very
difficult job. Net result of the whole
discussion was to strengthen rather
than weaken the reorganization.
One of the most important steps
toward increasing efficiency of con-
gress was elimination Of overlap
ping committees but, like attempt
ing to abolish the seniority rule, it
just couldn't be accomplished. As a
matter of fact, when the bill
finally was passed, the house reject
ed the senate-approved provision
which did away entirely with spe-
cial committees. It was admitted at
the time the reorganization act
was passed that it fell considerably
short of the original recommends
tons by the various bodies which
had made unofficial studies of the
situation. Indeed, the act did not
carry out all the recommendations
of the report of the joint congress
sional committee created to ex-
anime various recommendations
and then to make its own.
Experts to AdUise
Solons on Problems
Probably the most important
change yet to be made is to provide
additional help for members. That
is, providing additional experts to
advice committee chairmen and
committeeman. I recently heard it
remarked that: "Senator Taft usual
ly knows what he is talking about
when he takes the floor. You may
not agree with his policies but when
it comes to facts he seldom makes
erroneous or misleading statements.
This is largely because Taft has the
best staff of advisers in congress
he hires and pays for them out of
his own pocket"
1t is impossible to expect that
more than few members of either
house can devote enough time to
any single subject to become expert
on it. 1t is true that we have had
some outstanding examples of men
and women who have been able to
specialize and still carry on their
other duties. For example: Senator
George on finance and Mrs. Rogers
on veterans affairs, to name two
widely different fields.
It is natural that most congress-
men got into politics by way of the
legal profession, which is a good
basic training, but today, when
many of the most important issues
are economic rather than political,
no professional training is in itself
broad enough.
The stating, however, that has
been done is invaluable. No. for
the first time there will be experts
instead of a new inexperienced set
brought in with each chairman.
More are needed.
Some phases of the reorganiza-
ton plan probably will prove i'm
practical. One of its detectives was
to reduce the number of measures
passed by unanimous consent. This
was recommended because frequent
ly important legislation was adopted
in this manner with only small
number of senators on the floor.
The roll is not called - merely
mo objections" Various steps were
taken to check this custom but
there is a human element involved
that has to be taken into considera-
ton.
One thing which helps attendance
considerably is the reduction Of the