Business Almost as Usual

In the words of one of its leading members, Missouri Democrat Richard Boiling, the House of Representatives is "ineffective . . . negative ... Its procedures, time-consuming and unwieldy, mask anonymous centers of irresponsible power. Its legislation is often a travesty of what the national welfare requires." Last week, facing an opportunity to alter that image, the House left it largely intact.

In a bill valued more for nomenclature than substance (it was misnamed the Legislative Reorganization Act), the House carefully nurtured the appearance of reform while indulging in it only slightly. Before voting, members carefully gutted key provisions, then whomped through the remnants, 326 to 19. The Senate is unlikely to consider the measure this late in the session; not even the surviving provisions are expected to become law.

Commentary. The measure that passed is being trumpeted as genuine reform because the sole remaining provision of more than housekeeping importance would indeed end one venerated tradition. To speed up their voting procedures, House members have frequently adopted the practice of simply walking past tellers who count them as for or against an amendment. Under the new provision. Congressmen will be recorded; and the people who elected them--if interested--will be able to learn how they voted. That it has taken the House until 1970 to bestow such a benefice on the electorate is a commentary in itself. Secret votes in committee session were also barred, and the salaries of Congressional aides must now be reported in full.

What was not enacted was of greater significance. Proposed modification of the seniority system was defeated. Members will still be able to vote by proxy in committee. They will also be able to indulge their habit of changing the Congressional Record's verbatim reports of what is said on the floor.

Most telling, perhaps, was the fate of a proposal that recognized the potential role of computers in simplifying and speeding the work of Congress. Legislators find themselves increasingly inundated by tons of laboriously produced reports. It was proposed, therefore, that a computer data bank be established to provide prompt and comprehensive information for lawmakers who want to do their homework properly.

Because the bill called for a joint House-Senate committee to have jurisdiction over the computers, the House rejected them, fearing that the acquisitive "other body" would eventually gain primary control of the machinery. Thus the House declined to enter more fully into the computer era, long since inhabited by private industry, unions, the Government's executive branch, and soon--if the recommendations of Chief Justice Warren Burger are heeded--by the Judiciary. However, the House left unaffected the use of computers for what is called "members' services" --such things as mailings to constituents.

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