Cochairman MONRONEY. Senator Sparkman? Senator SPARKMAN. No questions. Cochairman MONRONEY. Thank you very much, Mr. White, for your appearance here. Representative WHITE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (The following letter was received while the joint committee was in recess :) CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Washington, D.C., October 12, 1965. Hon. A. S. MIKE MONRONEY, Chairman, Joint Committee on Organization of the Congress, DEAR SENATOR MONRONEY: I wish to express my support for the statement of Congressman Richard C. White of Texas, and likewise urge the committee to adopt a method of electronic voting such as used by many State legislatures, including the Missouri State Legislature for the past 20 years. Cordially, WILLIAM L. HUNCATE. Cochairman MONRONEY. We have a joint appearance by two distinguished Members of the House of Representatives, the Honorable Charles E. Bennett, Democrat, of Florida, and Representative Charles E. Chamberlain, Republican, of Michigan. I believe you choose to appear here together. You are both welcome to the witness table, and we are happy to have you appear before us. STATEMENTS OF HON. CHARLES E. BENNETT, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF FLORIDA, AND HON. CHARLES E. CHAMBERLAIN, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF MICHIGAN Representative BENNETT. We appreciate the committee allowing us to appear this way. Mr. Chairman, it is a pleasure to appear again before the committee looking into ways of making the Congress more of an effective representative body. When I appeared before, I stressed the need for a planned short summer recess for Members of Congress, and I am pleased to have another opportunity to give you my views on this important matter. For many years the possibility of a summer recess for the House of Representatives has been discussed. With the increasing complexity of the problems facing the Nation in recent years, it has become apparent that the sessions will inevitably run well into the fall, just as they have in 1962-to October 13; in 1963-to December 30; and in 1964 to October 3. It now looks like Congress will again be in session way into October this year. The advantages of a short summer recess are obvious: 1. More time for Members who are parents to be with children at a time when the children are not in school. 2. Health of Members. 3. Increase in teamwork to expedite business of Congress. 4. More time for the Members to visit with their constituents as envisioned by the drafters of our Constitution. Earlier this summer Congressman Charles Chamberlain and others joined me to circulate a petition, supported by both Democratic and Republican Members of the House, requesting a summer recess. This petition had 237 signers and was submitted to the leadership for consideration. I and Congressman Chamberlain stopped soliciting signatures when a majority of the House had signed. While we did not have time to fully plan for a short recess this summer, I am hopeful that the first effort for this may mean that in the future we can count on a week, 10 days, or 2 weeks recess every summer from now on. Before I turn over the microphone to my friend, Mr. Chamberlain, I would like to say that to my surprise I have been told that these lovely ladies back here in the Eackground are wives of Congressmen. I didn't plan this, but I am delighted they are here. I am sure they are here because of their deep feeling on this matter. I may say as a parent of four children, running all the way from a boy in college to a girl who is just 2 years of age, I have a very deep and a very sincere and a very concerned feeling about this issue. We present in Congress a symbol of what we hope is good for our country, at least we try to be representatives of our constituents, not only in legislative matters, but we try to live good lives, proper lives. It is not proper for parents with children of school age, year after year, not to have some vacation time with them. An article was written recently in the press-I think it was published in the Washington Post-stressing the absolute necessity for fathers to join with their children in some sort of rest period during part of the year, if these children are going to have a reasonable chance to evade psychological damage to themselves, and possibly even damage to society by being misfits in society. Those of us in public life who have studied and looked at public life for a long time certainly can find many illustrations which are painful to mention about children of the most extraordinarily able parents in public life, these parents not having an opportunity to give their children the normal upbringing, particularly with regard to vacation time, as other parents were able to give them. In many instances the children show the scars, not only in the first generation but sometimes even in generations thereafter. So I think it is a reasonable thing to ask that the leadership in Congress make it possible for a short vacation time that we can count on, not just to announce to us on some Friday afternoon, "You are going to be able now to take off 3 days" or maybe even a week. How can you plan for anything in the way of a vacation when you are told the hour before you have to catch the plane that maybe you can now catch the plane and go somewhere? Well, in the meantime your children and everybody else have planned for something else. Year after year since I have been here, and I have been here 17 years, my family has left me to go and take vacations. They go to North Carolina usually to spend a month down there. A whole month away from dad. I don't say I am any great shakes as a father, but I would like to be a better father. I am raising these children. Just because I have a public responsibility doesn't mean that I should chuck and throw off my paternal responsibilities. I brought these children into the world. I have a responsibility to raise them, to the best of my ability, and I should not be forced to have to choose between a public career, representation in Congress, and being a good parent. It is not at all necessary. Year after year we have this procedure. Year after year we know that Congress is going to be in session a long time. It wouldn't be a difficult thing to do, to arrange for a couple of weeks in the summer that you could plan on, that you could buy tickets for, that you could arrange with your children to go fishing with them or to go to the mountains with them or to go to the seaside with them or to go to Disneyland or to do the other things that normal parents do. There is no reason why we as public representatives should be such a bad example as parents. I am sorry I have trespassed so much on your time, but there is no other single thing that is more objectionable to me in public service than the fact that by public service I have been forced to be a lesser parent than I should be to the children that I love, and I worship, and I yearn for their success. Cochairman MONRONEY. Thank you very much, Mr. Bennett, for your very touching statement. Do you have a statement, Mr. Chamberlain? Representative CHAMBERLAIN. No, I don't, Mr. Chairman. With your indulgence I would like to say a few words. Cochairman MONRONEY. We will be happy to hear you. Representative CHAMBERLAIN. Mr. Chairman and my colleagues of the 89th Congress, I too am grateful for this opportunity to appear before your committee. We thank you for it. There is very little that I can add to what Congressman Bennett has said. He has very eloquently expressed what I feel to be the need for some sort of a brief summer recess for Members of Congress. I do think that the members of your committee might be interested in the origin of our effort. Congressman Bennett had an unfortunate accident this spring, and his leg was in such shape that he was in a wheelchair. I stopped by to express my sympathy to him, and to my amazement I found that he wasn't much, if at all, concerned about his leg, but that he was quite shaken about how this might affect sharing such available free time as he could find with his children during the months of his recovery. We talked of the limited time we had for our families and I told him that many Members on our side shared our views. As a result of this conversation, we decided to do something about it. We met with some of our colleagues, senior and junior to both of us on both sides of the aisle, so we would have a complete bipartisan approach to this. As he told you, we had 237 signatures in a very short period of time, and we intentionally terminated our effort because we had a majority of the House of Representatives. Now, as we look back to May, events seem to indicate that we well could have had a couple of weeks off sometime during the summer, and it would have made no difference. I am certain that we are all aware that after a period of rest and relaxation we come back and approach our duties with greater vigor. I think that if we had a brief vacation, we could well make up for any time that we might have lost. We all equate free time to our personal situations. I would simply say, in adding to what my colleague from Florida has said, that I have a son. He was 2 years old when I came to Congress. Today he is 11 years old. And I have not yet had a summer vacation with that boy. Now, as Congressman Bennett has said, we may have a short week once in a while, but because we cannot schedule a vacation, I send my boy to camp and pay someone else to try to teach him to swim and to take him fishing, and to do some of the things that we would like to do together if we had the time. So with the boy in the camp, when a long weekend becomes available, what can you do? The most we have had is a day or two here and a day or so there, for 9 years, and I say that this is wrong. I say it is unnecessary. As we discussed what we could do to better convey the feelings of the 237 Members who signed the request to the Speaker, it was suggested that we present this thought to you as you are considering new rules for the Congress. Perhaps in your wisdom something can be done to correct this situation. I feel, as our Government is becoming more complex, our duties here are more arduous, I see no lessening of requirements for Congressmen and Senators to be in Washington for extended periods. Even if Members, senior Members, do not have families that they can share this time with, they can use the relaxation themselves, or they can visit with their constituents at home and do a better job of representing the people here. In closing, gentlemen, I would simply like to state that I, too, appreciate the moral support that we have been given here by the wives of some of our colleagues, and may I say that I am informed that the ladies here, too, present a bipartisan delegation in support of our efforts. Thank you very much. Cochairman MONRONEY. Thank you very much, Congressman Chamberlain and Congressman Bennett, and particularly to the congressional wives who honor us today by their attendance at this hearing. This has resulted in such good testimony relating to some kind of summer vacation to keep families at least together on a vacation schedule for a week or 2 weeks during the summer. We deeply appreciate your attending and giving us the benefit of your testimony. We thank you for it. The committee will stand in recess until tomorrow morning, at which time we will take testimony from the Historical Evaluation & Research Organization and the American Civil Liberties Union. The committee stands in recess until 10 o'clock. Representative BENNETT. Thank you all very much. (Whereupon, at 12 noon, the committee was recessed, to reconvene at 10 a.m., Thursday, September 23, 1965.) ORGANIZATION OF CONGRESS THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1965 CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES, JOINT COMMITTEE ON THE ORGANIZATION OF THE CONGRESS, Washington, D.C. The joint committee met, pursuant to recess, at 10:10 a.m., in room S-228, the old Supreme Court Chamber, the Capitol, Senator A. S. Mike Monroney (cochairman of the joint committee) presiding. Present: Senators Monroney and Case and Representatives Madden (cochairman), Hechler, Griffin, and Hall. Also present: W. DeVier Pierson, chief counsel; George Meader, associate counsel; and Melvin W. Sneed, staff assistant. Cochairman MONRONEY. The Joint Committee on the Organization of the Congress will resume its hearings. I would like to insert into the record statements by several Congressmen and Senators as well as officials of the House and Senate, and others. Included are statements by Congressman John G. Dow; Congressman Jeffery Cohelan; Senator George McGovern; Joseph Duke, Sergeant at Arms of the Senate; Robert Brenkworth, financial clerk of the Senate; the Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Library; Sam R. Haley, legislative counsel, State of Oregon; Max Yost, chairman, National Taxpayers Conference; the Tax Foundation, Inc.; and George Norris, Jr., of Washington, D.C. These will be incorporated into the permanent record. (The statement submitted by Congressman Dow is as follows:) STATEMENT SUBMITTED BY REPRESENTATIVE JOHN G. Dow, OF NEW YORK CONFLICTION BETWEEN HOUSE AND COMMITTEE TIME DURING SESSIONS OF CONGRESS Gentlemen, this suggestion relates mainly to the House, inasmuch as my experience is limited to that body. As a member of two committees in the House, embracing four subcommittees, I can speak with some knowledge of the conflict in time between committee sittings and sessions of the House. Time and again during the course of committee hearings, the bells ring at or about noon for the commencement of sessions of the House. This is disturbing to the committee hearings because committee members then focus their attention on the third in the series of bells which is normally the one summoning them to a quorum call. After this a colloquy occurs about an arrangement for a continuation of the hearings at an arbitrary time after lunch. The Members then travel to the House and travel back again, with seldom a sufficient number to restart the hearings at the appointed time later in the afternoon. Such interruptions may be repeated two or three times. All of this is disturbing to the witnesses and not fair to them. It is more so when they have come from out of town and may be required to stay overnight because of the aberrations in the time schedule of the House committee hearings. While I would be satisfied with most any decision made to alleviate this confliction, I expect that you would like a suggestion on the subject. 1909 |