Date: 1981-09-11
Speaker: ROBERT C. BYRD (democrat)
Chamber: S

Mr. President. on Friday. July 31. I spoke on the early history of Senate committees. and today I continue my series of statements on the United States Senate. it being a time when the Senate is not engaged in the transaction of business and with no other Senator seeking the floor. I wish at this time to elaborate a bit on the evolution of the Senate committee system and certain Senate rules. and in this regard may I express appreciation to Judy Schneider who is In the Government Division of the Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service. and also to Dr. Floyd Riddick. Parlamentarian Emeritus of the United States Senate. Efforts to secure changes in organization and procedure have been a continuIng trend in the history of Congress. Even In an institution such as the Senate. with a high regard for the role of tradition. organizational and procedural changes have occurred throughout its development. In the 96th Congress. Senate attention was drawn to efforts to improve legislative efficiency. to increase the public accountability of the Senate. and to enhance its Institutional stature. In many ways. the modem Senate is much like the Senate of the 18th and 19th centuries. Traditions of extended debate and of collegiality in decisionmaking have remained Influential to the present day. In other respects. the Senate has seen fit to modify its practices. In recent years. efforts have been undertaken to modify the seniority system. to open Senate committee meetings to the public. to increase the availability of staff assistance for Members. and to require the disclosure of information about Senators personal finances. Other efforts have been directed toward reasserting the role of Congress in formulating national policy. The modem Senate committee system dates from the passage of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1046. which marked the culmination of efforts by a Joint Committee on the Organization of Congress. Hearings by a second such joint committee In 196566 led to the enactment of the 1970 Legislative Reorganization Act. which focused primarily on congressional information and analytic resouxm.es. committee staffing. and congressional procedure. The Congressional Budget Act and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 established Senate and House Budget Committees. a Congressional Budget Office. and a process to achieve more coordinated congressional action in fiscal policy making. Several additional changes were made in Senate committee operations during the 94th Congress. The previous requirement that Senate committee meetings be open to the public was extended to conferfence committee meetings unless a majority of the House or Senate conferees voted otherwise. Senators who previously had not been able to appoint committee staff were permitted to name staff to aid them with committee business. The Senate Democratic Conference voted to provide that. beginning in 1977. onefifth of the Democratic Senators could anonymously request a secret vote of the Conference on any prospective committee chairman nominated by the Democratic Steering Committee. Republican committee leaders are chosen by their party colleagues on each committee. subject to Republican Conference approval. Early in the 95th Congress. the Senate approved a major revision in its committee system. In 1976. a Temporary Select Committee to Study the Senate Committee System had been appointed. Under the leadership of Sen. Adlat Stevenson and cochairman. Sen. Bill Brock. the committee recommended reorganization and consolidation of the Senates committee. The committee reforms. as embodied in S. Res. 4 of the 95th Congress. were considered and amended during four days of Senate debate. and were approved by the Senate on Feb. 4. 1977. Among the provisions of S. Res. 4 were: Reduction in the number of Senate standing committees from 18 to 15. Adjustments In committee jurisdictions. Limitations on Senators committee and subcommittee assignments. Increased committee staff assistance for minority party members. Recommendations that duties of Joint committees be transferred to Senate standing committees wherever possible. Establishment of procedures to secure referral of legislation to more than one committee: and Establishment of a permanent Select Committee on Aging. and of a Select Committee on Indian Affairs for the 95th Congress. Subsequent to passage of S. Res. 4. action was taken to abolish the Joint Committee on Defense Production and the Joint Committee on Congressional operations. The Joint Economic.Committee and the Joint Committee on Taxation were retained. as were Joint Coinmittees on the Library and on Printing. At the end of the 95th Congress. the Senate acted to continue the Select Committee on Indian Affairs for an additional two years. The Senate acted to implement additional provisions of Its committee reform* resolution during the 96th Congress. Additional committee and subcommittee assignment limitations became effective with the start of the new Congress. Some Senators were forced to relinquish comnmittee assignments they held in precedIng Congresses. By 1979. the Senate also came halfway (from a 1977 base) to8.9478 September .11. 1981 CO ward achieving a onethird minority party committee staffing ratio. Delay of business on the Senate floor remained an issue of continuing concern. Changes in the cloture rule (Rule =DII by which debate on the Senate floor is terminated have been suggested for several years. In 1975. the Senate revised Its rule to permit cloture if threefifthis of Its Members vote to bring debate on legislation to a close. previously. the support of twothirds of the Senators present and voting had been necessary. In the 94th Congress. a record number of 14 successful cloture votes were taken. During the 95th Congress. opponents of measures delayed Senate business for substantial periods of time even after cloture was Invoked. A resolution (B. Res. 0. 1977) to eliminate or to reduce the Impact of these "postcloture filibusters" failed to gain passage after four days of Senate debate. In October 1977. a series of parliamentary rulings by the Vice President. sustained by the Senate..partinlly limited the impact of postcloture filibusters. Additional efforts to modify the Senate cloture rule were begun In the D6tW Congress. During the 95th Congress. several proposals were considered to revise the administrative operations of the Senate. At the end of 1976. the Commission on the Operation of the Senate. appointed the previous year. issued its final report. The Commission recommended the appointment of an Administrator of the Senate responsible for routine management functions. the reallocation of space for Senators. committees. and administrative units. more efficient use of time through early organizational meetings. computerized scheduling of committee meetings and designation of days exclusively for committee or floor business. experimentation with broadcasting of floor proceedings. and public financial disclosure for Senators and key administrative staff. A resolution (S. Res. 166. 1977) embodying most of the Commissions recommendations was considered in committee. but not reported to the full Senate. Some of the Commissions recommendations were Implemented. however. Computerized scheduling of committee meetings began during the 95th Congress and Senate debates on the Panama Canal treaties were broadcast by public radio. The Senate also acted In the 95th Congress to increase accountability of Senators for their personal finances. S. Rlea. 110. adopted Apr. 1. 1977. established a more comprehensive financial disclosure requirement for Senators and senior staff. proscribed the receipt of gifts valued in excess of $100 from foreign nationals or from persons with a direct interest in legislation. limited most sources of Senators outside earned income to no more than 15% of their Senate salaries. limited the use of the congressional frank. prohibited foreign travel by "lame duck" Senators. prohibited the establishment of unofficial. office accounts. and added language to the Senate rules prohibiting discrimination in the hiring and promotion of staff. Enforcement and oversight responsibilities for the Code of Conduct were assigned to the Select Committee on Ethics. Some modifications In the code were subsequently adopted by the Senate. and many of the Codes provisions (especially the financial disclosures requirements) were subsequently Incorporated Into the Ethics In Government Act. P.L. 95521. which was signed into law on Oct. 26. 1078. Proposals were also made to enhance the nondiscrimination portion of the ethics code by establishing a Senate Fair Employment Relations Board to receive and screen complaints. and to offer appropriate remedies. No final action was taken on the proposal during the 95th Congress.