Evening star., 1948-12-30
The Political Min
The Political Mil - -"''''-'''-''''
Congress Seniority Rule
To Prevail on New Posts
Bad Feeling, Chaos Seen Result, If
System Should Be Dropped
By Gould LincoIm

SyStem SnOulQ De DROppSO
By Gould Lincoln
Plaintive and sometimes bitter cries arise,
whenever new Congress is convening. against
the seniority system This system takes into
account length of service in House or Senate.
and length Of service on committees, when
assignments are made to standing committees
and committee chairmen are chosen. As .
result palpable misnts occur sometimes
though by no means as frequently as is charged
by those members who feel their talents have
been overlooked But despite all the wailing
no substitute for the seniority system has ever
been found. Some of its critics even admit,
when pressed, that abandonment of the old
system would result in bad feeling, in all kinds
Of personal and petty politicking for place, and
in chaos.
There is no written rule in either House or
Senate which calls for recognition of length
of service for preferment in making committee
assignments. Like Topsy, the system lust
growed." And it Is easy to understand why.
When Committee on Committees was faced
with deciding between two members Of the
House (or Of the Senate), or among several
members, for appointment TO standing COM
mittee places including the craftsmanship, 1t
ran the risk of offending deeply men who con-
sidered themselves qualified or at least had
set their hearts on preferment. The easy out,
therefore was to nnd length of service-sen-
iority-as q tangible reason for appointment.
Much Work to Be Done.
In the Senate, committee assignments for
the Republicans are made by the Committee
on Committees, and for the Democrats by the
Steering Committee. In the House, the mem
bers Of the Ways and Means Committee, both
Democratic and Republican, act as Committees
on Committees and make the party designa-
tions-after the members Of the Ways and
Means Committee themselves have been chosen
In party caucuses.
With the new Congress meeting next Monday,
and a shift in party control of both the House
and Senate, large amount OF work must DO
done by the committee which make the COM
mittee assignments. The Democrats will ex-
pand their membership on all the standing
committees. and the Republicans, on the other
hand, must contract theirs. Necessarily there
will be some knotty problems and some heart
burnings before all Is concluded. But the sem
iority rule will prevail with all kinds of refine-
ments, and after the designations have been
made by each party they will be ratified by
each house.
1t Is natural that younger members Of Con-
gress of exceptional ability should be restivs
under the operation Of the seniority rule, which
denies them the advancement In COMMITTEES
post and power to which they consider them
selves entitled. But q change now from this
unwritten rule would bring great resentments.
Particularly would this be true in the Senate,
a comparatively small body which always has
been = very chubby affair.
Some to Be Reinstated.
So it may be expected that ranking Democrats
on the standing committees during the Eightieth
Congress will become chairmen Of the commit
tees in the Eighty-frst Congress. In many
cases this will merely have the effect OF
reinstating chairmen who served in that
capacity in the Seventy-ninth Congress- the
last Democratic Congress. For example, Sena-
tor Connally of Texas will move into the chair
manship again of the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee, and Representative Bloom OF
New York into the Craftsmanship of the House
Foreign Affairs Committee. Senator McKellar
of Tennessee will be in line for chairman OF
the Senate Appropriations Committee, and
Representative Cannon of Missouri for chair
man of the House Appropriations Committee.
The Truman administration and its con-
gressional leaders would like very much to
remake the powerful House Rules Committee.
eliminating Democrats like Representatives Cox
of Georgia and Smith Of Virginia, who may
| cause trouble for Truman New Deal measures.
| To do So however, would violate the seniority
| rule-a tough decision to make. An example
| of how tenacious is this rule Is found in what
| happened when Senator Sheppard Of Texas,
chairman Of the Military Affairs Committee OF
! the Senate, died in April, 194l. Next in line
| for the craftsmanship of the committee was
| former Senator Reynolds of North Carolina.
| who had an anti-international cooperation
record The administration had misgivngs
about Senator Reynolds, at a time when the
country was very close to war and the admins
tration was doing its best to hurry along
strong national defense measures. However,
Senator Reynolds was given the chairmanship,
and performed creditably.
The seniority rule has something In its
favor. Men who have been returned to
Congress year after year by their constituents
usually have outstanding ability. One present
leader, commenting on the seniority rule ion
the record" said that this rule could do little or
no harm if, when making appointments to
major committees, men were selected with the
understanding Ehat one day they probably
would become eirmen.
Question and Answers
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