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Show Garn from Washington . . . By Sen. Jake Garn Reorganization of the Senate Sen-ate committee system has been the first substantial order or-der of business for the 95th Congress. It is long overdue. The committee system has not been restructured for thirty years. During that time the legislative branch of government gov-ernment has expanded its jurisdiction farther than ever before. This expansion has left the committee system outmoded. In many ways it is inefficient - it overlaps, duplicates dupli-cates and offers only cumbersome, cumber-some, time consuming methods meth-ods to accomplish relatively simple goals. Senators are spread too thin. Most are scheduled for two to five full committee and subcommittee hearings each morning which are frequently interrupted by trips to the floor to vote. Revamping of committees would provide a practical, efficient and time-effective time-effective approach for committee com-mittee hearings. Senate Resolution 4, the current proposal to change the committee system, provides pro-vides for consolidating committee com-mittee jurisdiction, limiting the number of committees and subcommittees to which a Senator can belong, restricting restrict-ing chairmanships and establishing estab-lishing a scheduling service so committee meetings and roll call votes would not conflict. Hearings on the resolution, which have been conducted during the first weeks of this Congress, have emphasized that, although everyone agrees reform is absolutely necessary, no one seems willing will-ing to accept change in his own fiefdom. The majority cries to "reorganize every committee but mine" and to "revamp everything, except the subcommittees which pertain per-tain to my special interest groups." Unfortunately, this is the very reason we have gone thirty years without reorgnization and it is the reason reformation is so difficult. diffi-cult. As we approach the beginning begin-ning of a new legislative session, sess-ion, the mood is right for reform. Hopefully, the Senate w ill have enough courage to address the issue broadmind-edly, broadmind-edly, so e can establish and maintain a meaningful committee com-mittee structure. |