Evening star., 1960-12-26
BY ROBERT X. WALSH
star staH Writer

cat Of Mississippi, from the
House Rules Committee in the |
new Congress.
But Republican Leader Hal |
leck and Rules c o IN mittee
Chairman Smith, Democrat of |
Virginia, who recently con-
ferred together. repeatedly are |
net so sure they can count on |
enough votes to prevent q much
more likely move to increase |
the size Of the committee by
adding one or more liberal
Democrats.
Authoritative sources say
they now see little likelihood
that expected attempts to lib
eralize the powerful committee
VIII involve the dropping Of Mr..
Colmer or any Of the three
other conservative Southern
Democrats on the 12-member
kroup.
1 This would have to be done |
Arst in q Democratic caucus.
where SouthernerS would have
1T least 1l0 Of the 261 Demo- |
crafs in the new House. Many |
of the ISL others probably |
&ould be reluctant on grounds |
of personal feeling, party pol |
Icy or parliamentary precedent |
to support such an attack on |
Bhe seniority system and South
ern sensibilitieS.
! Coalition Prepared
3 II, however, the list Of Rules
Committee members submit.
ted to the House, probably on |
the first day Of the session,
should fail to include Mr.. Col
mer's name, Mr.. Halleck and
Mr.. Smith repeatedly are sure
It would be rejected by Repub-
hcan and Southern Democratic
votes. The Republicans will
have 176 members in the new
House.
The effect Of such a rejection
would be to send the-reSolu-
tion back to the Ways and
Means Committee. The IS
Democratic members Of that
25-member group form q COM
tnittee on committees which
assigns Dem ocratic House
members to standing commit
tees. The assignments, gener-
ally on the basis Of "consulta-
ton" with Speaker Rayburn
and other Democratic leaders,
are subject to ratification by
the whole House.
Two especially i'm portant
Democratic liberal" vacancies
must be filled in the Ways and
Means Committee itself be-
cause Of the retirement Of Rep
fesentative Forand Of Rhode
Island and the election of Rep
resentative Metcalf Of Mon
tana to the Senate.
Debate Possible
Conceivably opponents of al
eommittee-aSsignment resolu-
ton could move to amend it by
striking out any name or names
and substituting or restoring
another. Cannon's Precedents,
a bulwark Of House procedure,
notes that propositions for
election Of members to COM
mittees are debatable."
Thus the omission Of such a |
name as that Of the veteran
and personally popular Mr..
Colmer certainly would touch
of a spectacular debate. But, |
unlike the Senate situation,
House rules would allow a mo-
don to shut of debate merely
by calling for "the previous
QueSLlOn.
, Floor fights Of this kind have
happened in the House. but
only on rare occasions.
An even quicker House floor
showdown could come January
3 or soon thereafter if Mr.. Ray
burn and the Democratic lead
ership in general clear the
Tay-as now seems most like.
ly-for an increase in the size
Of the Rules Committee. This
would be designed to bolster the
ranks Of the four liberal Demo-
Gratis currently on the COM
mittee.
It would necessitate q change
in House rules. Ordinarily, at
the start Of a new Congress the
chairman Of the Rules Com
mittee offers a privileged reso-
luton that the rules of the pre-
vious House be adopted. Mr.. |
Smith offered such a resolution
at the start Of the 86th Con-
,gress two years ago. It was
adopted without debate or dis
sent.
Rules Changed In 194S
That is not always the case.
In the start of the S1st Con-
gress in l949 House rules were
adopted with the so-called 2l-
day rule amendment. It was
abandoned two years later.
That same amendment prob
ably will be pressed in the new
Congress as a means Of pre-
venting or discouraging the
Rules Committee from stalling
or shelving major legislation
sought by the administration or