Not One Word

Presumably to keep members from heaving heavy objects at one another, the U.S. House of Representatives has a strict rule against any Congressman's uttering personal criticism of another. But last week the House sat silently while a young Republican bitterly denounced a Democratic committee chairman--and, in the process, scolded the House itself. The victim of the attack was Harlem's Adam Clayton Powell Jr., chairman of the Education and Labor Committee (as usual, Powell was absent at the time). The attacker: second-termer John Milan Ashbrook, 34, attorney, Johnstown, Ohio, newspaper publisher and former national chairman of the Young Republican National Federation.

The Cloak. Ashbrook began calmly. "Mr. Speaker, one of the first things that a new member of Congress learns is the so-called rule of congressional courtesy. Bluntly stated, these rules and precedents make it virtually impossible to criticize the conduct of another member of this body. These rules have probably prevented duels, fist fights and other breaches of gentlemanly conduct which would have reflected on the decorum of the House. Undoubtedly, some lives have been saved because of a remark that was never made on this floor. Outbursts of temper have probably been kept to a minimum.

"The rules have done all of this, but. I humbly submit, a lot more. Congress is the final authority in many ways and pretty much a law unto itself. If the members are not allowed to speak out on abuses, then who can? Couple this inability to speak out with a tendency on the part of the entire body of Congress to refrain from sufficient self-discipline and a searching investigation of its own affairs, and you have what I feel is an untenable situation. We consistently denounce waste and duplication in the executive branch of the Government. Oratory abounds concerning the proliferation of bureaucratic agencies, their expensive habits, and so forth, ad infinitum. A cloak of secrecy covers all too much of what we do in this branch of government. Do we have waste? Expensive habits? Nepotism and favoritism? If we do, under the rules of Congressional courtesy, it better be someone other than a member of Congress who discusses it."

Ashbrook then lit into Powell. A mem ber of Powell's committee, Ashbrook urged that his chairman's request for committee funds be slashed by $200,000. He pointed out that committee expenses have risen from $388,000 for the four years before Powell became chairman to $633,000 for the two years under Powell's leadership. Asked Ashbrook: "Why?"

The Affront. He supplied his own answer: Powell's great expansion of committee staff and committee travel. Ash brook said that before Powell, the staff had consisted of four Republicans and twelve Democrats. Now it had "35 or 40" Democrats and just two Republicans. At the same time, he said, the Republicans were "harassed" with "persistent demands" that they give up their minority suite. And, although the committee "would seem to have less reason to travel than most other committees," it had become "one of the most freely traveling groups in the entire Congress." About half of that travel, said Ashbrook, was overseas.

Taking direct aim at Powell, who has a $45,000 beach home in Puerto Rico, Ashbrook claimed that taxpayers have paid for at least 30 trips to that island with committee funds. He cited 19 per diem expense vouchers made out to Powell in 22 months for travel in Puerto Rico or "place not known." With bitter understatement, Ashbrook said: "Next to New York City, the problems of Puerto Rico seemed to call for the largest single outlay of our travel funds. At a time when we are mortgaging the future, and maybe the hereafter too, it would seem wise to limit our studies and trips to that island."

But what aroused Ashbrook the most was Powell's claim, at a recent press conference, that even such junkets as his Paris nightclubbing with two women staff members are justified, because "I will always do just what every other Congressman and committee chairman has done and is doing and will do." Said Ashbrook: "It is an affront to the dignity of the House to categorically state that we all have done or will do these things. I believe that the reputation of this august body is at stake."

At any time Ashbrook could have been forced to yield the floor for violating the House rules. Yet some 100 Congressmen heard him out and, by their silence, indicated their approval. When he had finished, six Republicans took the floor to praise Ashbrook. Said Iowa's H. R. Gross: "He has said some things that badly needed to be said." Added Missouri's Thomas Curtis: "I could not agree with the gentleman more." Declared Texas' Bruce Alger: "We should do whatever housecleaning is necessary." Not one word was said on Powell's behalf.

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