¹ The committees had reported practically no legislation of any importance by the end of the first month of the session, though some appropriation measures had been reported. As late as February 2, Mr. Barkley, Senate floor leader, asked the membership to speed up committee reports; he said: “I suggest that all committees which have important legislation before them, having regard for proper deliberation and consideration of all such measures, act as promptly as possible to report such measures for the calendar, so that the Senate may not be required to adjourn from time to time for 3 days because there is nothing to do.” Cong. Rec., 76th Cong., 1st Sess., p. 1501. (Hereafter references tc the Record will give only the page numbers.)

² A total of 8,254 bills and resolutions were introduced in the House during the first session of the 76th Congress, as contrasted with 6,558, 10,091, and 9,200 in the first sessions of the 73rd, 74th, and 75th Congresses respectively. The committees made reports on 1,471 bills, of which 517 were on private bills. The House acted on 1,328 of these reported bills; 143 of them had not been acted on at the close of the session. For a comparative analysis of all such data of the 1st session of the 76th Congress with those of the first session of the 73rd, 74th, and 75th Congresses, see Calendars of the United States House of Representatives and History of Legislation (final ed.), p. 183.

³ P. 9840. Mr. Vandenburg, speaking to an appropriation bill (H.R. 6791) on Membership. June 29, said: “I repeat … that if the Senate could know the detail of the waste and exploitation which is wrapped up in some of these appropriation bills, even the blasé Senate would be shocked” (p. 11495).

⁴ Cong. Directory, January, 1938, pp. 145–154.

⁵ These figures are compiled from a list brought up to August 5.

⁶ The 34 senators were elected or reëlected on November 8. The two senators elected on this date to fill unexpired terms were Mead of New York and Stewart of Tennessee.

⁷ Democratic senators were succeeded by Republicans in the following six states: New Jersey, Connecticut, Kansas, Ohio, New Hampshire, and Wisconsin.

⁸ Twelve of the 117 newcomers had already served in the House, one of whom (Darrow of Pa.) had served for 11 consecutive terms.

⁹ They were: Senator J. Hamilton Lewis and Representatives Gambrill of Md., Cravens of Ark., Daly of Pa., Turner of Tenn., Lord of N. Y., Owen of Ga., Griswold of Wis., and McReynolds of Tenn.

¹⁰ Goldsborough of Md.

¹¹ See House Resolution 156.

¹² There were 69 Democrats as opposed to 27 others in the Senate. In the House, the Democrats totaled 262, with only 173 others.

¹³ Mr. O'Connor of N.Y. was defeated and Mr. Snell was not a candidate.

¹⁴ Several changes took place in the Democratic Policy and Steering Committees of the Senate.

¹⁵ Mr. Gehrmann and Mr. Hull were candidates for Speaker, receiving only one vote each.

¹⁶ Unlike in the House, such meetings in the Senate are not called caucuses. While leaders Barkley and McNary were not formally elected as chairmen of their respective caucuses, they held a number of conferences on such issues as national defense, relief program, stabilization fund bill, and the like. In the House, many general conferences to determine policy and to reach decisions on particular issues were held. The Democrats held such a meeting on January 2, January 6, January 16, February 14, and July 28. The one of February 14 was a general conference to rally the torn forces. The Republicans held meetings on January 2, January 11, January 20, February 6, February 9, March 6, March 27, April 18, May 16, and July 28.

¹⁷ After the death of Senator Lewis, Senator Minton became whip.

¹⁸ Of the 719 bills and resolutions to become law, the rôle of initiation played by each house shows that 447 originated in the House and 272 in the Senate, divided as follows: House bills, 408; House joint resolutions, 39; Senate bills, 256; and Senate joint resolutions, 16.

¹⁹ Each house played a more important rôle in legislative activity than the above figures show. The House actually passed 958 bills, as follows: 615 House bills, 279 Senate bills, 46 House joint resolutions, and 18 Senate joint resolutions. During the session, 8,254 bills and resolutions were introduced in the House. Of that number, 7,541 were House bills, 381 House joint resolutions, 35 House concurrent resolutions, and 297 House resolutions. In the Senate, 3,370 bills and resolutions were introduced. Of the number, 2,974 were Senate bills, 186 Senate joint resolutions, 29 Senate concurrent resolutions, and 181 Senate resolutions.

²⁰ House bills vetoed, 11; Senate bills vetoed, 7; House bills pocket vetoed, 22; Senate bills pocket vetoed, 18.

²¹ Only 54 successfully went through conference, and 6 of these were vetoed.

²² Cannon's Procedure in the House of Representatives, p. 22, lists the general appropriation bills as follows: 1. Agricultural, 2. District of Columbia, 3. Independent Offices, 4. Interior, 5. Legislative Establishment, 6. Navy, 7. State, Justice, Commerce, and Labor, 8. Treasury and Post Office, 9. Military, 10. War (civil functions), and 11. Deficiency bills.

²³ Mr. Taber, ranking minority member of the Appropriations Committee in the House, placed the total figure at $14,061,598,619, according to the following breakdown: Direct appropriations, $9,720,827,313; permanent appropriations, $3,619,934,916; re-appropriations, $232,416,332; and contract authorizations, $488,420,058. Mr. Taber said: “To my mind, an appropriation is an appropriation, whether you call it a ‘reappropriation’ or a ‘direct appropriation.’ It takes money out of the Treasury that could not get out in any other way. Therefore, I have always felt that reappropriations should be charged against the year's operations, and I have always included them in the tables that I have prepared, and I shall do so again this year. We are confronted with a new situation this year. Appropriation bills have been reduced to a certain extent below the budget estimates by means of contract authorizations, where the funds would not be required until well after the beginning of the next session of Congress, and in some cases not until after the first of next July. It has been customary heretofore to resort to a little of this practice, but in view of the fact that contract authorizations this year have been trebled over any previous year within my recollection, in order to present a fair picture of the operations of this session of Congress, I have felt that contract authorizations should also be shown” (p. 15660).

²⁴ For a complete breakdown as given by Mr. Taylor, see pp. 15682–15683.

²⁵ In the 68th Congress (convened in December), the House established a record by passing all of them by April 7.

²⁶ Four appropriation measures were not passed by the House until after June 22. Eight were acted on after June by the Senate. Many stayed a long time in conference.

²⁷ Mr. Cannon said: “Mr. Speaker, in practically every appropriation bill that goes to the Senate, the Senate adds amendments increasing the amount carried by the bill. In the last 25 years I recall only one appropriation bill passed by the House which the Senate did not increase” (p. 8442).

²⁸ Pp. 10505–10506. The motion to recommit the bill was lost by 149 yeas (148 Republicans and 1 Democrat), 205 nays (201 Democrats and 4 others). These party analyses of the record votes in the House are subject to possible variations of 1 or 2 due to discrepancies between the roll at the time of voting and the final roll with which they were all checked. Only the Republicans and third parties were tabulated and subtracted from the total vote.

²⁹ P. 10841.

³⁰ Pp. 10960–10968. The Senate amendments were concurred in and the act was approved on June 29 (Public Law No. 155).

³¹ House Report 855, p. 1.

³² P. 15837. Two other measures, immediately connected, which passed during the session are: H.R. 5474 (Railroad Unemployment Insurance) and H.R. 5482 (Unemployment Compensation). See p. 15653.

³³ P. 12637. The scope of the law includes the following titles: taxes; benefits; coverage; federal grants to states; maternal and child welfare, vocational rehabilitation; public health work; administration; old-age and survivors insurance; public assistance programs; unemployment compensation; and health and welfare service. See pp. 15837–15840.

³⁴ P. 15305. The bill was approved on August 10 (Public Law No. 379).

³⁵ House Report 120, p. 1.

³⁶ See H.R. 8202 of the 75th Cong., 1st sess.

³⁷ The select committee was created by H.Res. 60, adopted on February 1, which authorized the committee to report the bill at any time and provided that it should not be subject to points of order.

³⁸ A motion to recommit was lost by 163 yeas, 236 nays (pp. 3531–3532).

³⁹ “(1) To reduce expenditures to the fullest extent consistent with the efficient operation of the Government; (2) to increase the efficiency of the operations of the Government to the fullest extent practicable within the revenues; (3) to group, coordinate, and consolidate agencies of the Government, as nearly as may be, according to major purposes; (4) to reduce the number of agencies by consolidating those having similar functions under a single head, and to abolish such agencies as may not be necessary for the efficient conduct of the Government; and (5) to eliminate overlapping and duplication of effort” (Public Law No. 19).

⁴⁰ The procedure set up in both bodies for the consideration of any reorganization proposal by the President includes: “A resolution with respect to a reorganization plan shall be referred to a committee … by the President of the Senate or the Speaker of the House of Representatives, as the case may be.” After the issue has been before either House or Senate committee for 10 days, and has not been reported out, it is then in order for any person favoring the resolution [the resolution to disapprove the President's plan] to move that the said body discharge the said committee from further consideration of the issue, and the motion is highly privileged. Debate on the motion may not exceed one hour. Only one such motion in either House is in order. After a “committee has reported, or has been discharged from further consideration of, a resolution with respect to a reorganization plan, it shall at any time thereafter be in order … to move to proceed to the consideration of such resolution.” The motion is highly privileged and is not debatable. Debate on the resolution for adoption or rejection of the plan may not exceed 10 hours. The detailed procedure is too involved for a more complete review. For details, see Part II of Public Law No. 19.

⁴¹ The defeat of such a resolution in either house in effect blocks the disapproval of any plan submitted by the President.

⁴² P. 13424. The motion to recommit was voted down by 146 yeas, 232 nays.

⁴³ Pp. 13475–13478. Representative Parsons of Illinois denounced the bill as “idiotic, impractical, and the most superfluous and asinine piece of legislation I've ever known intelligent men to consider.” “In the hearing that preceded Rules Committee action, Representative Smith of Virginia asked if the bill would ‘keep Secretary Ickes from poking his nose into state primaries.’ When informed it would not, Mr. Smith said he had ‘lost interest in it’.” See New York Times, July 7, 1939.

⁴⁴ During the session, some 23 naval bills, of which 12 were enacted into law, were reported by committees to the House. Some were important.

⁴⁵ See presidential message of January 12,1939. The number of officers in various services was increased from 14,669 to 16,719, the number of planes was fixed at 6,000, etc. (see p. 4171).

⁴⁶ P. 4171.

⁴⁷ P. 6433.

⁴⁸ P. 11093.

⁴⁹ Pp. 11102–11103.

⁵⁰ It was approved on July 6, 1939, and became Public Law No. 165.

⁵¹ Senate Report 112.

⁵² Approved on April 12; Public Law No. 32.

⁵³ Pp. 9124–9126. “The purpose of this bill, and it has the unanimous support of the committee, is to provide greater flexibility in the management of the public debt. Under the present law, as amended, the limit of the public-debt obligation is 845,000,000,000, subject, however, to a limitation in the amount of bonds which may be outstanding at one time, namely, $30,000,000,000” (p. 8451).

⁵⁴ P. 5872. The bill passed the Senate twice—first, as S. 1796 on April 13, and second, as a rider to the Second Liberty Bond Act on June 1.

⁵⁵ P. 2580. The bill was approved on March 4,1939, and became Public Law No. 3.

⁵⁶ This act was to aid insurance of home mortgages. It amended U.S.C, title 12, sees. 1702–1732; 48 stat. 1246. Approved on June 3; Public Law No. 111.

⁵⁷ Approved on August 3; Public Law No. 253.

⁵⁸ The District tax bill (H.R. 6577) caused much trouble before it was finally passed; it was not enacted until July 26, the fiscal year having elapsed June 30. Originally, it passed both houses very shortly after consideration began, but the differences in the bill as passed in the two houses kept the bill in conference nearly a month. The main conflict arose over the amount of federal contribution, the House deciding upon $5,000,000 and the Senate upon $7,500,000. The amount was finally compromised at $6,000,000 (Public Law No. 225).

⁵⁹ The bill for additional clerk hire (H.R. 6205) for members of Congress passed in the House on May 16 (p. 7886) by a vote of 237 to 95. It was amended and passed in the Senate on June 29 (p. 11495), and was approved on July 25 (Public Law No. 216). The bill raised the amount allowed congressmen for hire of secretaries from $5,000 to $6,500 and gave each senator one or two additional clerks at $1,500, depending upon the population of his state.

⁶⁰ Expositions seemed to have a big year. Eighteen such bills were reported to the House, of which 8 became law.

⁶¹ P. 13773. See p. 13764.

⁶² These were mostly minor postmasters.

⁶³ For legislative purposes, therefore, the House was in session 129 days and the Senate 109.

⁶⁴ This was true especially in the House when a bill not considered under a special rule was before that body for general debate in committee of the whole.

⁶⁵ Changes to define more clearly the jurisdiction of 3 committees (Committee on Invalid Pensions, Committee on Pensions, and Committee on World War Veterans' Legislation) were adopted (p. 12).

⁶⁶ Eleven of these were laid on the table without consideration because the bills to which they related had been disposed of under some other procedure. Six of the 62 were never called up.

⁶⁷ Thirty-four rules were adopted in the second session of the 73rd Congress, 37 in the second session of the 74th Congress, and 33 in the first session of the 75th Congress.

⁶⁸ The special procedure was practically the same in each case. To illustrate from H. Res. 219: “It shall be in order to consider without the intervention of any point of order the substitute committee amendment recommended by the Committee on Military Affairs now in the bill, and such substitute for the purpose of amendment shall be considered under the 5-minute rule as an original bill. At the conclusion of such consideration the Committee shall rise and report the bill to the House with such amendments as may have been adopted, and any member may demand a separate vote in the House on any of the amendments adopted in the Committee of the Whole to the bill or committee substitute” (p. 10008–10009).

⁶⁹ Such debate is generally in committee of the whole.

⁷⁰ Bills on the Speaker's table which require further consideration in committee of the whole cannot be sent to conference by a bare majority vote under normal procedure; unanimous consent, suspension of the rules, or a special rule is required. In each of the cases referred to, unanimous consent was not possible; and suspension of the rules is not usually feasible in party battles. See Cannon's Procedure in the House of Representatives, pp. 396–397.

⁷¹ Twenty-six (or their substitutes) became law. Nine were lost along the way, of which 2 died in conference; two were never debated since the rules for their consideration were rejected, one was voted down by the House (H.R. 6466—Townsend bill), and 4 were never considered in the Senate.

⁷² P. 13504. This statement was certainly not in conformity with the course taken on the Wages and Hours bill (H.R. 5435).

⁷³ See Calendars of the United States House of Representatives and History of Legislation (final ed., p. 27). This business is in order on the first and third Tuesdays of each month. If two persons object to such a bill when it is called up, it is recommitted to the committee from which it was reported. It may later be returned to the House for reconsideration as a part of an omnibus bill. See Rule XIII, clause 1.

⁷⁴ See Rule XXVII, clause 4: “A petition must have been signed and on the Calendar seven days before it can be called up, and this business is in order only on the second and fourth Mondays of each month.”

⁷⁵ This includes the first roll-call by states.

⁷⁶ H.Res. 286 (for the consideration of H.R. 7120, to finance self-liquidating projects) was lost by a vote of 167 yeas (164 Democrats and 3 others), 193 nays (146 Republicans and 47 Democrats), p. 14771. H.Res. 266 (for the consideration of S. 691, amending the National Housing Act) was lost by a vote of 170 yeas (159 Democrats, 8 Republicans, and 3 others), 191 nays (137 Republicans and 54 Democrats), p. 15208.

⁷⁷ H.R. 7133 was favored by agricultural groups as opposed to H.R. 5435, but the committee would not report it out.

⁷⁸ P. 15327.

⁷⁹ Pp. 7898, 7899.

⁸⁰ H.Res. 289.

⁸¹ P. 15328.

⁸² P. 15217.

⁸³ When this action was taken, a few senators objected; but Mr. Norris said: “So far as I know, everybody is in favor of this measure except a few members of the House who have key positions and who are holding up the legislation …. The purpose is to give the members of the House an opportunity to vote on the question, which opportunity they are denied under the House procedure … I repeat, it is not a discourtesy … and, so far as I am concerned, their vote will settle the question” (p. 9117).

⁸⁴ It requires unanimous consent to send such a matter to conference from the Speaker's table in this manner; therefore, when Mr. Cannon made the unanimous consent request and objection was heard, he resorted to the use of a special rule (pp. 8442–8444).

⁸⁵ P. 4566.

⁸⁶ P. 4611.

⁸⁷ The rule was adopted by a vote of 221 yeas, 53 nays (p. 8988).

⁸⁸ Providing that both houses must act to approve a plan proposed by the President.

⁸⁹ P. 1231.

⁹⁰ See H.J.Res. 246 and House Report 332.

⁹¹ See pp. 11527–11625, 11711–11738.