Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-03-12
The Political Mill
Congress Probe Code
Would End Many Evils
Suggested New Rules Will
Mean Fuirer Treatment
By Gould Lincoln

By Gould Lincoln
The Republican Policy Committee
has come up with set Of rules Of pro-
cedure for Senate investigating conn
mittees and subcommittee which, II
put into effect, will go far to bring
about fairer hearings and treatment Of
witnesses. The dificulty, however, lies
in the fact that this set of procedure
rules is put forward only as q SUCCESS
ton to the chairmen Of committees Of
the Senate.
The situation could be remedied by
actually writing these rules of commit
tee procedure into the rules of the
Senate itself, or by proposal advanced
by Senator Monroney, Democrat, Of
Oklahoma. The Monroney proposal is
to amend the Senate rules by inserting
a provision for the discharge of any
investigation from an investigating
committee, just as committees may be
discharged from further consideration
Of any bill or resolution by vote Of the
Senate itself.
Two Purposes.
The Oklahoma Senator says that q
motion to discharge committee from
continuing an investigation could be
used effectively for two purposes. First.
to compel a committee chairman or
the committee itself to live UP to q
proper code Of procedure. Second, to
take an investigation from. for example,
the investigating subcommittee Of the
Committee on Government Operations.
headed by Senator Joe Mccarthy Of
Wisconsin, and turn it over to the
proper legislative committee. The in
quiry into subversives in the armed
services could be taken away from the
Mccarthy committee and placed in the
hands Of the Armed Services Commit
tee, where it really should be handled
anyway.
In the opinion of Senator Monroney.
his proposed amendment Of the Senate
rules would present an effective control
Of committee investigations that appear
to get out of hand
The rules Of procedure recommended
by the Republican Policy Committee
say nothing. however, about the brow
beating Of a witness, as happened in
the case of Gen. Ralph w. wicker
when he appeared before Senator Nc
Carthy in the Maj Irving Peress case.
Peress Is an alleged Communist. There
seems no way Of telling a chairman
Of an investigating committee he must
handle witnesses with kid gloves. Here
enters question of personalities. How
ever, II there are no more one-man
hearings, as recommended by the pol
icy committee, other members of the
investigating committee would be on
hand to protest against unfair treat
ment Of witnesses. No rules Of pro-
cedure should be written, on the other
hand, which will interfere with a
searching and drastic questioning Of
a witness
What Code Suggests.
The proposed code for investigating
committees. If lived up to, will do much
to improve the atmosphere of congress
sional Investigations. It calls for ma
lorlty decision on holding investiga-
tons, and majority control of all sub
committee hearings. It provides that
no hearing of subpoenaed witnesses
shall be held unless a majority of
members of the committee. or subcom-
mlttee. are present, provided that a
committee may authorize the presence
OF majority and minority member
TO constitute a quorum. This would
end one-man hearings.
The code also provides that an in
vestigating committee may not delegate
its authority to issue subpoenas, except
by vote of the committee or subcom-
mlttee. Further, no hearing may be
initiated unless specifically authorized
py the committee or subcommittee In
other words. no chairman can launch
an lnveStigative hearing all by himself.
NO hearing is to be held outside of the
District of Columbia unless authorized
by vote of the committee or subcom-
mittee. This is an obvious attack on
Senator Mccarthy. Also, no testimony
taken in closed session shall be given
out. or any summary of it, by any
chairman, but must be made public
only after vote of the committee And
finally, any witness shall be entitled to
have counsel with him to advise him
of his legal rights.
Rules Already Exist.
Many of the Senate and House COM
mittees already have rules of procedure
similar in nearly all respects to the
newly proposed code. Senator Nc
Carthy's subcommittee. for example,
covers nearly all these recommended
procedures. The trouble has been that
these procedures have not been lived
up to. and members of committees and
subcommittee have not insisted that
inquiries be conducted under such rules
A committee chairman, after ALL is
just one member of a committee, and
if the other members have the back
bone. they can always keep him in
order
President Eisenhower more than a
week ago called on Republicans in the
Senate to deal effectively with the ram
paging Senator Mccarthy through
effective rules of committee procedure.
The policy committee recommendations.