Evening star., 1954-05-23
Congressman Raps
Colleagues Absence
AA-Bi|I Hearings
BY [. Edgar Primo

A member Of the Joint Con-
gressional Committee on Atomic
Energy yesterday decried what
he called the shameful" attend
ance record of a majority Of his
colleagues at hearings on a bill
to revise the Mcmahon Act Of
1916.
After requesting anonymity.
he told The Star that attend
ance has been so srnall-an aver
age of three or four members
each meeting-that the general
membership. in my opinion, has
no concept of many provisions Of
this very important piece OF
legislation.
There are 18 members on the
Joint Committee-10 Republic
cans and 8 Democrats. Repre-
sentative Cole, Republican. OF
New York, IS chairman and Sen
ator- Hickenlooper, Republican,
of Iowa, is vice chairman. They
are sponsors of the bill.
Regulars Listed.
According to the unidentified
member, Mr.. Cole and Repre-
sentatives Price of Illinois. Holi-
field of California, and Senator
Pastore of Rhode Island for the
Democrats are the only ones
who attend with any regularity.
He added that Representatives
Van Zandt, Republican of Penn
sylvania, and Durham, Demo-
crat, of North Carolina, had sat
in on several sessions.
The Cole -Hickenlooper bill is
designed to bring private indus
try into the peacetime power
field. 1t also provides for ex-
change of information on atomic
weapons and power with
friendly nations.
One Of the most controversial
provisions, however, concerns the
status of the Acc Chairman. The
bill seeks to set him apart and
above the other four commission
ers. This has provoked sharp OPP
position from the Democrats,
some of whom have not been
enthusiastic about the admin
istration of the Acc by Chair
man Lewis L. Strauss.
Mr.. Holifield, for example, said
yesterday that G. o. P. offer to
change the wording Of the bill
from "the chairman shall be the
principal officer of the commits
sion" to "the chairman, as prin-
cipal officer, shall 81" is un-
satisfactory.
TN the first instance, the Ian
guage makes the chairman the
principal officer" he asserted.
"In the proposed change, it rec
ognizes him as the principal OFF,
Ger, which would give him a
status without basis in legisla-
ton"
"As long as we have a commits
siolI form of management, all
commissioners should have equal
rank and dignity and equal &C
cess to information" he added.
Hearings Resume June z.
Public hearings on the bill
are scheduled to resume on June
z. Mr.. Strauss is to be one Of
the first witnesses called. Other
Acc officials and representa-
tives of the State, Justice and
Defense Departments also will
testify.
Mr.. Holif1eld had something
to say on another atomic energy
matter yesterday - the an
nounced resignation of DR..
James G. Beckerley, Acc di-
rector of classification. DR.. Beck
erley, who plans to quit this
summer, has an important role
in deciding what data may be
made public.
"I am somewhat concerned
about the resignation of DR..
Beckerley." the Representative
said. HE has done a fine job and
has been anxious to declaSsify
any information that could be
made available for public use
that was not inconsistent with
national security considera-
tionS."
He added that he felt there
might now be a tightening up
of information-"a tightening
up that would go far beyond Sc
Scurity needs"-because Mr..
@{StrauSS seems tn he an odvOcata