House Panel Seeks Curbs on Chairmen

WASHINGTON â€”  A special House panel recommended Wednesday that the authority of powerful committee chairmen be sharply curtailed as part of a wide-ranging package of reforms designed to make the legislative system more efficient and accountable.

The proposals--which also would establish deadlines for adoption of major legislation to avoid end-of-session logjams--were disclosed by Rep. Louise M. Slaughter (D-N.Y.), chairwoman of the House Democratic Caucus Committee on Organization, Study and Review.

Her panel also recommended a three-hour limit on televised after-hours speeches by members of Congress, stronger powers for the Speaker in scheduling votes on potentially controversial issues and the elimination of 16 subcommittees.

Congress came under heavy fire last year for the way it conducts business, with critics going beyond the House bank and post office scandals to accuse the House of having a bloated staff and too many committees doing too little work.

Anticipating the need for change, the Slaughter committee was established to recommend ways to smooth House operations. Earlier this year, in response to public outcry, House leaders shut down the House bank, ended the political patronage system and named a nonpartisan administrator to run non-legislative services.

Although some of the proposals were sure to draw opposition within the 258-member Democratic Caucus, they were reported to have the support of Speaker Thomas S. Foley (D-Wash.) and his top lieutenants. Thus, the new Congress is likely to approve them.

If they are adopted by the caucus, the Democrats who control Congress would be bound to support any changes in House procedural rules needed to put the reforms into effect.

Republicans, with only 175 votes, would not be able to block the action. But they were expected to denounce some proposed revisions that would give the Speaker more authority to control the timing of votes, even on privileged resolutions that GOP lawmakers have used in the past to challenge Democrats’ actions.

One of the most far-reaching proposed changes would allow the Democratic Caucus to unseat chairmen of committees or subcommittees by a majority vote if their ouster was approved by the leadership-dominated Steering and Policy Committee.

There is no formal procedure to remove these chairmen in mid-session.

Another major recommendation would create a Democratic Policy Council appointed by the Speaker to establish a legislative timetable for the coming year and, in effect, set deadlines for action on key bills.

The panel should be composed of committee chairmen, members of the House Democratic leadership and rank-and-file lawmakers, the Slaughter panel suggested, to ensure that major bills are not stalled in committee or delayed so consideration has to be rushed in the final hours of a congressional session.

In a move to save money and streamline congressional structure, more than 10% of House subcommittees would be eliminated. Eight major committees would be limited to six subcommittees each, while nine other panels would be allowed up to five subcommittees.

In addition, House members would be allowed to sit on only five subcommittees, including special panels set up to deal with such issues as hunger, narcotics and aging.

Another change--reflecting House unhappiness with Senate riders on appropriations bills that change existing law--would alter the rules to make it easier for the House to resist such Senate actions.