Evening star., 1961-02-02
Democrats Avoid Rules ReprisoIs
In House Committee Assignments
By ROBERT X. WALSH
star staff Writsr

e@~~NoA@e-@cN@S~
House committees showed COM
paratively few traces Of out
right reprisal today despite
some complaints that Speaker
Rayburn has got q little list"
Mof Southerners who voted
sdlnst his plan to broaden the
Rules Committee.
A slate Of more than 80 ap-
4 sentiments or transfers agreed
{ on late yesterday by the DEM
Eceratic committee on commit
Ytees took q decided slant toward
1 members likely to stand by the
! Speaker and support Kennedy
! administration measures this
year.
Btf eight Of the "a Southern
sand Border State Democrats
who voted Tuesday against en-
rlarging the Rules Committee
received assignments. No Dem
socrat who opposed the Rayburn
S:pIan was dropped from any
House committee. AL fresh
Z men Democratic members, ir-
I respective Of how they went in
: the 217-212 vote for that plan,
were named to at least one
seolanittee.
& COP. Ratio Better
Z Moreover the party ratio on
K many committees was changed
to give the Republican minor
3ity more places than in the
previous Congress. The general
0H-40 ratio reflects 9. o. p.
gains In the November elec-
tionS.
The Education and Labor
Committee was among four
committees increased in size.
from 50 to 80. The new division
win be 20 Democrats and l3
Republicans instead Of 21-11.
Also getting one more member
were Agriculture, Foreign At
fairs and judiciary.
Reporters, nevertheless,
heard some informal and gen.
orally unspecific complaints
that a majority Of the Com
mittee on Committees yester-
day rejected requests from
several Rayburn plan oppon-
entS who wanted to be trans
ferred to better committees.
The only public complaint
Of this kind came from Rep
resentative Flynt Of Georgia.
The Associated Press reported
that he told the Georgia Legis-
lature in Atlanta yesterday he
had hoped for o transfer to
the Appropriations Committee
but had been notified that his
selection would depend on
whether he voted for the
Rayburn resolution.
He declared that without
q moments hesitation ! sent
word back that neither Jack
Tynt nor Georgia wanted any
assignment that badly" Mr..
Flynt already is on the Com
merce Committee.
Mr.. Rayburn said today he
saw no evidence Of reprisalS in
the committee assignments. He
told reporters that Mr.. Flynt
had never discussed with him
the possibility Of getting on the
Appropriations Committee. T,
"All Of the House members
who were already on commit
tees got about what they re-
quested and the freshmen got
what was left" he said.
Await Party Caucus
The Democratic assignments
as well as those yet to be made
by the Republicans are subject
to approval by the House It
self. The Democratic list also
viii be submitted to q party
caucus.
q. o. P. assignments viii not
be made before Monday. The
Republican Committee on Com
mitteeS yesterday entrusted the
task to q subcommittee. Party
leaders said they had no wish
10 delay action but noted that
the Job is especially difficult
this year because Of the large
number Of new members.
Committee staff employees are
particularly interested. Since
the new Congress convened
January 8 they have not been
paid unless their committees
were organized and had a
chairman. Only the Rules.
Appropriations, Ways and
Means and House Administra-
ton committees have been Or
ganized thus far.
Join Rules Group
The major move by the
Democratic Committee on Com
rnittees yesterday was election
of Representatives Elliott OF
Alabama and Sisk Of California
to the Rules Committee. They
will take the two additional
Democratic seats created by
the House vote enlarging the
committee from IL to IS. Re:
publicans will choose an addi-
tional member and also fill two
vacancies. The party ratio
then will be 1915 instead Of 8-4
Democrats assigned to COM
mitteeS despite their opposition
to the Rayburn plan were Rep
resentatives Stephens Of Geor-
gia to Banking and Currency;
John w. Davis of Georgia to
Science and Astronautics S;
Whitener of North Carolina
and Huddleston of Alabama to
the District Committee; Scott
of North Carolina to Education
and Labor: Kornegay of North
Carolina and Hagen Of Georgia
to Veterans Affairs. and Hen
derson Of North Carolina to
Post Office and Civil Service.