HOUSE GROUP RATIOS SET UP

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00965R000100050006-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 8, 2014
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: January 14, 1959
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release @ 50-Yr 2014/01/08 : CIA-RDP91-00965R000100050006-2
;.401. 0: SM tIr roup 1 an
Ratios Set -Up,
? ?
Congressional Democrats proceeded to give them-
selves nearly 2-to-1 majorities on most House commit-
tees yesterday, in keeping with .1958' electjon results, as
Republicans and ? Democrats in both houses
down to Congress organization 'chores.
? In these. other, develop-
ments:
? The House Republican
Committee on Committees
unanimously nominated Rep.
Leslie C. Arends Who
was minority whip under Rep.
Joseph C. Martin Jr. (Mass.),
to continue in the same role
under Rep. Charles A. 'Hal-
leek (Ind.), the new House
-Republican floor leader.
? After the Committee met,
Halleck told newsmen that in
general he regarded the ap-
proximately 2-to-1 Democratic
committee ratios as "fair." A
9-man House GOP subcom-
mittee, headed by Halleck as
ex-officio chairman, was set
?up to name the GOP members
of House committees. House
Republicans will have.: 37
fewer seats than last year.
? A full-dress House? Re-
publican conference ? ? was
called for today to consider,
among other things, ah-.Organ-
ized Republican fight .on: the
session-opening proposal by
Rep. James Woosevelt (D-
Calif.) to abolish the House
Committee on Un-American
Activities and transfer, its
functions to the House .judi-
ciary Committee.
? Senate Republican con-
buckled
cratic leaders apparently gave
themselves enough margin on
the House Education and La-
bor Committee to get the kind
of labor reform legislation
they want.
Democrats will outnumber
Republicans on the Commit-
tee 20 to 10, as compared
with 17 to 13 in the last Con-
gress. Actually, Chairman
Graham Barden (D-N. C.) and
Rep. Phil Landrum (D-Ga.)
often voted with Republicans
in the last Congress. The new
10-vote margin will give Dem-
ocratic leaders a firm margin
of control.
Despite Democratic election
year. gains, there was no
change in Democratic repre-
Sentation on three so-called
fixe&ratio committees. Their
strength continued to be 8 to
4 on the Rules Committee, 15
to1.0 on Ways and Means, and
30 ?to 10 on Appropriations.
Nor. was there any change in
the 5-to-4 margin Democrats
held in the last Congress on
the Committee on Un-Ameri-
can Activities.
Committee Margins
Here are the increased mar-
gins by which Democrats will
s
control other House commit-
ervatives and "progressives"
fell out again this time tees in the 86th .Congress, corn-
over the choice of' a chairman
of the Senate 'Republican
Campaign Committee. A Sen-
ate GOP conference w a s
called to consider a resolu-
tion by Sen. Bourke B. Hicken-
looper (R-Iowa), to amend the
Party rules to require the
post to be filled from "one or
more nominations" submitted
by 1960 GOP senatorial can-
didates. ?
Goldwater Opposed
Sen. Barry Goldwater (R-
Calif.), choice of most Party
conservatives for the post, is
opposed by many of the so-
called progressives. The GOP
conference- chairman, Sen.
LeVerett Saltonstall (Mass.),
who now holds the power to
name the GOP- chairman, said
he will call a second Party
conference. for- -Thursday- to
elect a Republican chairman
and -confirm- other, nomina-
tions if the Hickenldoper mo-
tion is adopted.
In approving roughly 2-to-
1 Democratic ratios for most
House committees, Demo-
pared with the margins they
held in the last Congress:
Agriculture ? 22-12, com-
pared with 19-14; Armed Serv-
ices-23-14, -compared with 20-
17; Banking and Currency-19-
11, compared with 17-13; Dis-
trict of Columbia'-16-9, com-
pared with 14-11.
Foreign Affairs-21-11, com-
pared with 17-15; Government
Operation's ? 19-11, compared
with 17-13; House Administra-
tion-16-9, compared with 14-
11; Interior-19-12, cOmpared
with 17-14; Commerce 21-12,
compared with 18-15; Judiciary
?21-11, compared With 18-14.
Merehant Marine ? 20-11,
compared with 18-'4; Post Of-
fice and Civil Service-16-9,
compared with 14-11; Public
Works-22-12, compared with
14-11; Science and Astronau-
tics (space) 16-9, compared
with 7-6; Veterans Affairs-16-
9, .compared with 15-10.
The Republicans will have
to come up with five new faces
for District Coromittee assign-
ment, seven -'of last year's
members having been defeated
in the.' 1\Tenronillar Alartinne
Declassified and Approved For Release @ 50-Yr 2014/01/08: CIA-RDP91-00965R000100050006-2