The New Congress

Last week Congress set out to make most of the liberal punditry of the last four years obsolete. Since 1960, the legislative branch--more specifically, the House of Representatives--has been seen largely as an outmodeled obstruction to the business of government. But several actions taken within the last ten days indicate that the 89th Congress will be moving ahead of, rather than lagging behind, the liberal and progressive recommendations of the executive branch.

First, the House Democratic Caucus demoted two southern Democrats, John Bell Williams of Mississippi and Albert W. Watson of South Carolina, to the very bottom of the seniority ladder because they openly supported Barry Goldwater for the Presidency. The emphatic margin in the Caucus (157-115) suggests that southern conservatives will no longer be able to enjoy the advantages of a Democratic label on Capital Hill and a Goldwater labed back home.

Such men, whose power is based on seniority, are being caught in a squeeze between more liberal Democrats in primaries and Goldwater Republicans in general elections. Last year alone seven such conservative Democrats with an average of 18 years' seniority were defeated or discretely retired.

But some reforms, particularly of the House Rules Committee, have been long overdue. Basically, that committee's business is to keep a manageable amount of business before the House. But under crafty Chairman Howard Smith of Virginia, Rules has too often prevented action on measures like President Kennedy's federal aid to education bill.

Happily, on the opening day of the session the House passed a package of such changes in its rules by a 224-201 vote. The most important item in the package is the 21 day rule, which will allow the Speaker to call up bills for floor action after three weeks in the Rules Committee. In addition, Rules will lose much of its power to keep a bill already passed out of a House-Senate conference. Another change will prevent unnecessary delays of roll-call votes. Liberals also scored a victory by increasing Democratic margins on the House Appropriations and Ways and Means Committees to reflect the 295 140 Democratic margin in the House. Ways and Means must pass on the top-priority hospital care for the aged program.

The margin for the rules changes was actually smaller than the 235 196 vote by which the Administration two years ago made the "packing" of the Rules Committee permanent. In 1963, the Administration mustered all its strength and got 49 southern Democrats and 28 Republicans to support its one reform. This year, the Administration exerted little pressure, and the package of reforms got only 19 southern Democratic and 16 Republican votes.

But with the addition of many new liberal Democrats in the 1964 election, the majority for reform dropped by only 16 votes. This indicates not only that there is a strong liberal majority, but that the leadership will not have to pay the price for cooperation from reluctant southerners and Republicans.

More significantly, effective impetus for liberal measures is now coming not from just the White House or the Senate, but from the House Democratic caucus. The Democratic Study Group (made up of 125 liberals) initiated the purge against Wattson and Williams; the Administration appears to have maintained strict neutrality. Nor did the Administration have to press for rules changes; liberal Congressmen got their package passed by their own efforts.

The new liberalism of the Congress leaves the President in a felicitous position. Lyndon Johnson, unlike John F. Kennedy, will not often have to expend his political capital in leading liberal assaults in Congress. The President can have the advantages of appealing to a national consensus and the assurances that the Congress will enact his liberal program.