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411 Annals Am. Acad. Pol. & Soc. Sci. ix (1974)

handle is hein.cow/anamacp0411 and id is 1 raw text is: PREFACE For the first time in twenty-eight years, since the landmark Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946, Congress is taking a serious look at reform of its committee systems. The House Select Committee on Committees, chaired by Richard Bolling-Democrat, Missouri-will soon release a committee report with recommendations for restructuring committees in the House of Representatives. The Senate, following a series of 1973 ad hoc hearings conducted by Senators Charles McC. Mathias-Republican, Maryland- and Adlai Stevenson III-Democrat, Illinois-will probably establish a select committee of their own. Undoubtedly, movement by Congress toward major internal reform, after years of inactivity, was spurred by the series of Nixon vetoes and impound- ments which followed his 1972 landslide reelection. Watergate, with its resulting reduction in presidential challenges to congressional legislative prerogatives, has slowed down the momentum for reform. Nevertheless, it appears that Congress' inertia in the area of committee reform has been reduced enough to bring about significant changes, especially in the House. It is this prospect which, on the suggestion of Terence Finn of the House Select Committee on Committees, engendered this volume. However, we are concerned with more than the specifics of committee reform. Although many of the selections deal directly with concrete proposals, essays in the volume focus, as well, on: the possible forums for committee change; the importance of the internal congressional environment for committee opera- tions; and committees as seen by nonlegislators who interact with Congress. We are especially attempting to put committee system reform in a larger context which recognizes that committees, while terribly important, are merely one variable in a complex, interactive legislative process. One interesting feature of this volume is that several of the essays have independently arrived at similar conclusions about the direction reform should take in Congress, particularly in the House of Representatives. Ele- ments such as a regularized rotation of committee assignments, a major reduction in the number of standing committees and a strengthened party leadership structure, are mentioned by numerous authors. For example, Davidson's essay on representation on committees mentions rotation as a possible cure for unrepresentativeness; Brenner's article on the scope of conflict in the committee process notes the impact of both rotation and committee reduction on conflict and policy formation in the House; Jones' essay focuses on the need for strengthened leadership; Peabody details a revamped House committee system involving only ten committees; and essays by Gardner and Ornstein discuss all three of these recommendations. These reforms are the least likely to be enacted by the contemporary Congress-which makes their ubiquitousness even more surprising. They point to the broader, more general perspectives on committee system reform which this collection of essays by legislators, journalists and academicians reflects. NORMAN J. ORNSTEIN ix

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