Evening star., 1953-10-14
Senate ReshuffIinu
May Give Minority
Committee Balance
By J. A. O'Leory

neither party will have a clear
majority.
The appointment of the Demo-
cratic Mayor of Cleveland, Tom
Burke, to fill the Taft seat gives
the Democrats 48 seats and the
Republicans At. but it takes 40
to control. The oregon inde-
pendent. Senator Morse, has
given renewed assurance he will
vote with the G.. o. P. on organ
ization until the 1854 election.
This takes care of continued
floor control for the Republicans,
since Vice President Nixon may
vote to break a tie, but it leaves
for further negotiation between
the leaders the question of how
to allocate committee assign
nentS.
Tough Mathematics.
That will be a tough mathe-
maticaI problem, because on
nearly all committees the Re-
publicans now have majority
of only one. ratio which was
fixed when they had 48 seats and
the Democrats only Al.
The law requires that each
Senator be assigned to at least
two committees. Thus, the Re-
publicans will have to give the
Democrats at least two more
committee places to take care of
Senator designate Burke.
1t is doubtful that the Demo-
Gratis would want to increase also
the number of Republican places
at a time when the Republican
strength on the floor has dropped
by one seat in order to let them
retain the present majority of
one on all major committees.
The solution probably will lie
In the fact that committee chair
men are elected by the Senate
itself and not by each commit
tee. Each Senate committee now
has Republican chairman. and
it would take an affirmative vote
in the Senate to replace any OF
them. Since this would be an
organization question. Senator
Morse's vote would give the Re-
publican the edge on the floor.
johnson Issues Statement.
Under this situation, it is con-
ceiyable that the Democrats could
be given equal representation. or
a majority of one on some com.
mittees without upsetting the
Republican chairmanshipS.
When it comes to voting on
legislation involving economic !
issues, party lines frequently are
crossed regardless of who con-
trolls the committees.
Democratic Floor Leader ohm
son, of Texas, issued statement !
in Chicago yesterday, praising
the appointment of Mayor Burke !
to serve pending election. His
statement also said:
"The Democrats will be in the
majority in the Senate in the
next session of Congress. We
plan no narrowing partisan ap-
proach to issues affecting the
national welfare. We shall keep
In mind in the second session as
we did in the first. that all of us
are Americans before we are
Democrats or Republicans"
Not Clear Majority.
While this carefully avoided
any commitment on who should
control the Senate in 1854, other
Democrats in Washington said
they do not expect any move to
take the reinS away from the Re-
publicans as matters now stand,
Senator Sparkman, Democrat,
of Alabama, pointed out that 48
is not an actual Senate majority,
and he does not think the DEM
ocratS should attempt to take
control in January. He added,
however, that if the Democrats
should later pick up one or more
additional seats. they could not
avoid the responsibility of taking
over control.
Senator Kefauver. Democrat,
of Tennessee, also said he had
heard no talk of a Democratic
move to take control in January
but he advanced a novel sugges-
tion that the Republicans place
Democrats in charge of some
subcommittee on the Foreign
Relations and Armed Services
Committees. He based his propo-
sal on the theory that the prob
lens in those committees should
be dealt with in a non-partisan
manner.
Senator Morse threw out
hint yesterday that the neces-
sary reshuffling of committee
places in January gives the lead
ership a chance to correct what
he regards as the injustice to
him in committee assignments
last January. But the Oregon
Independent added that he
would be much surprised if the
present leaders took such action.
Would Be Surprised.
Referring to the fact that he
was dropped from the Labor and
Armed Services Committees after
he bolted the Republican ticket
last year. and assigned to the
District of Columbia and Public
Works, Senator Morse said
I'm view of the political ex-
pediency which governed the
committee assignments this
year. consider myself anything
but an expert witness on what
the Senate may do in January"
He charged that the principle
of seniority was disregarded in
taking his old committee assign
ments away, and said this leaves
the leaders in a difficult hiStori-
cal position on the matter of
committee rights.
''I would be much surprised if
the present leadership would
rectlfy the wrong they did. not
- - h,,t - tho Y1ro0odo11fS R,It