Fee Speech

The Senate votes for a limit

Most U.S. Senators' talk hardly comes cheap. According to records made public last month, 85 of them reported a record total of $2.4 million in honorariums last year, chiefly for speaking to business and labor groups. Six earned more in lectures than their $60,662 annual salaries.

But those speakeasy days of silver-tongued oratory may be numbered. Largely be cause of negative publicity and the parliamentary persistence of Senator Henry ("Scoop") Jackson, the Washington Democrat, the Senate last week voted 51 to 41 to limit its members' honorariums to 30% of their salaries, or about $18,200.

The House started the reform move last December, when it passed a bill that raised members' salaries from $60,662 to $69,800, but imposed a 30% limit on honorariums. The Senate also considered the matter but decided to maintain the status quo: no raise, no fee restrictions. Senators generally can command higher honorariums than House members. Last year Kansas Republican Robert Dole made $135,750 (of which he donated $51,500 to charity); South Carolina Democrat Fritz Hollings, $92,270 (none to charity); and New Mexico Republican Pete Domenici, $84,450 ($27,000 to charity).

Enter the scrappy Silvio Conte of Massachusetts ($1 1,812 in fees, $3,000 to charity), ranking Republican on the House Appropriations Committee. "Those guys are going to get $200,000 next year," he fumed."There's going to be no end to it!" Last month he attached the 30% limit applying to Senators as an amendment to a supple mental appropriations bill. But the provision was killed in a Senate subcommittee.

Last week Senator Jackson ($34,270; all to charity), a longtime advocate of adequate congressional pay but a foe of out side fees, stepped in. For most of the afternoon, amid sometimes bitter debate, he hammered away at the issue. Warned Jack son: "There is a general perception that we have opened the door to undue influence and serious conflict of interest."

Finally his colleagues gave up. If the new limitation becomes law, members of the House would receive higher salaries than Senators and be permitted to make more money in speaking fees.

But the 30% limit is attached to an appropriations bill that has already been threatened with a Reagan veto because it exceeds his budget limits. And when it comes up for finishing touches in the Senate this week, some members could yet add a straightforward pay raise, possibly reopening the whole compensation issue. This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.