| Show REPORT FROM WASHINGTON By REPRESENTATIVE LAURENCE J. J BURTON What chance does a bill have of becoming law Not much according according ac ac- ac cording to statistics just released relating to the work of the first session o of the Congress In all there were bills bilIs introduced introduced introduced in in- in the Congress during during during dur dur- ing 1967 Only of them were enacted into law That's less than 3 which isn't much of a batting average regardless of the league you are in In addition to the bills that were introduced there were 1 1102 joint resolutions co concurrent concurrent con con- current resolutions and 1213 simple simple sim- sim pie resolutions sponsored in jn the two Houses during the first session session session ses ses- sion of this Congress All of these measures added together including including including ing bills makes a grand total of items of legislation Obviously no single legislator could be expected to be familiar with every one of these items If a Congressman were to read 50 bills a day everyday Sundays and holidays he still wouldn't be able to read all the meas mea's measures res that are introduced ina in ina a single session And believe me if a Congressman were to study that many bills bilIs he would not get anything else done Jone and in the process he would ruin his eyes and unbalance his equi- equi I dare say Can you imagine spending all of your time reading some items of legislation all replete with lawyers lawyer's nice phraseology the provided and and subject tos and It just couldn't be done To spare each member the impossible impossible impossible im im- im- im possible task of concerning him him-f himself himself him him- self directly with all of the measures that are introduced the work of the Congress has been divided up by the committee commit commit- tee method The House of Representatives Representatives Representatives Rep Rep- has 21 standing committees committees committees com com- and two select commit commit- tees Each of the members of the House serves on at least one committee and many serve on two My own committee assignments assignments as as- as most of you know are on the Interior and Insular Affairs Committee and on the Select Committee on Small SmaIl Bus Bus- iness In addition I also serve as a member of the Public Land Law Review Commission and of f the Golden Spike Centennial Commission two extra legislative legislative legisla legisla- tive b bodies dies Under the chairmanship of Wayne N. N Aspinall D-C D Colorado D-Colorado lorado the House Interior and Insular Affairs Committee has the deserved deserved deserved de de- de- de served reputation of being one of the hardest working and most productive in the Congress The gentleman from Colorado believes believes believes be be- the purpose of the committee committee committee com com- is to get its assigned work done with all deliberate speed and that it be done well The committee had bills referred referred referred re re- to it last year It reported report report- ed 59 to the House for final action action action ac ac- ac- ac tion after extensive hearings and 38 of them became law Others Others Oth Oth- ers em are pending in the Senate for action there The Select Committee on Small Business is not a legislative com com- That is it does not consider consider consider con con- sider specific items of legislation legislation legislation legisla legisla- tion but is concerned with the study of matters of interest to small business and making recommendations recommendations recommendations rec rec- to the Congress legislative ac ac- ac- ac for appropriate tion During 1967 the House was hi Is session days the Senate days To be precise that figures out to exactly 1090 hours 48 minutes for the Senate hours and 16 minutes for the House took The amount of debate that place during these thes periods of time makes up pages in inthe inthe inthe the Congressional Record for the Senate for the House That merely confirms the suspicions of many of us that they do a lot more tal talking ing on the Senate side than they do here in the House In the House last year there were roll call votes The Senate topped us in this category category category cate cate- roll ron gory too as there were call votes in that body In the House however there were in addition to the roll call votes quorum calls that Is a reading of the membership roll to determine attendance The Senate isn't so concerned with this as the House as there were only 80 Senate quorum calls As far as relations between the Congress and the Executive branch are concerned this was wasa a rather peaceful session Th The President saw fit to veto only three items of legislation And none of the three was overridden by the Congress Things may not be quite so peaceful during 1968 Somehow things get het et a mite more stirred up during election years i- i t |
