Historical March 1981 report or notice. Original dates, prices and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
After ten years of apolitical life in the Skinker-DeBaliviere area, surrounded by local politicians, I now find myself on Capitol Hill as a Congressional Fellow.
It occurs to me that friends and neighbors might be interested in how I got here and my first impressions of “the Hill.”
While serving on the Missouri Hazardous Waste Management Commission, I decided to spend my sabbatical year (away from the University of Missouri-St. Louis) at the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, D.C. to get the “big picture” on environmental activities. EPA turned out to be a surprising but rarely amusing experience. I noted that much of EPA labor was geared to responding to Congressional initiatives and that humility was only obvious when EPA representatives went before budget and appropriations committees of Congress. That, along with many conversations with those “in the know,” suggested that to be effective in science/public policy matters one had to have contacts on the Hill. Therefore, I applied for and received a Congressional Fellowship sponsored by the American Chemical Society.
We started our year with a three week orientation — 28 science fellows varying in age from mid twenties to high forties with MDs, PhDs, JDs, and generally star-struck • by the marble halls and hallowed corridors, high-ceilinged rooms, and life-like statues of the deceased powerful.
We were whisked through briefings, lectures, reviews, interviews, debriefings, and lunches; meetings with personalities ranging from Senator John Glenn to Hans Mark (former Secretary of the Air Force) in working museums such as the National Academy of Sciences and the Pentagon. Then we were cast out to seek positions on the Hill.
To our great surprise, we were not in great demand. I couldn’t even get to talk to my Congressman.
Although we were free professional help, we required space to operate, and that is the greatest shortage in Washington.
Some staffers were jealous of sharing responsibility (and parking spaces) – and others were suspicious or unaware of the program and felt that our type of expertise was available to them anyway through the Congressional Research Service (which is true).
However, Subcommittees dealing with science and health and environmental areas sought us out eagerly and, in the end, we infiltrated everywhere.
In October, I joined the personal staff of Albert Gore, Jr., Congressman from Tennessee who has a safe seat and who promised me a desk near a window. Gore is an active, effective member who just started his third term at the age of 32.
He is an enthusiastic basketball player and a major proponent of legislation dealing with hazardous wastes, which is an area of great interest to me.
Most Congressional Representatives have a Washington staff of 10 or less depending upon the number and size of their State district offices.
This staff answers letters and telephone calls, greets visitors, files information, writes speeches, produces position papers on some of the legislation of interest to the Member, announces grants, and advertises the Member, as much as possible.
A typical Senator will have a Washington staff of a dozen or so with similar responsibilities to those of Representatives but with the need to cover a broader number of issues.
This is a woefully small staff for the task of governing the U.S. and serving constituents.
Most Congressional staffs in Washington are composed of bright, enthusiastic youngsters; recent graduates who give their all for Congress and country and burn out in two to three years.
Some return later as Congressman.
For many House staffers, this is their first fulltime job.
They love it. Long hours are welcome.
Some work without salary.
By contrast, the Senate staffers are more mature.
They will average about 6 years of service, they have other professions, have had other jobs. “Congressional committees are the heart and focus of the legislative process.” With that line, I was introduced to the majesty, power, and significance of the Congressional committees.
I did not know that ALL committees and subcommittees are chaired by members of the ruling party of that chamber, that the chairperson hires and directs most of the staff that work on that committee.
Specific committee chairpersons have more legislative clout than the President.
With a Democratic majority in Congress since 1955, individual chairmen built empires; e.g., Magnuson in Appropriations, Long in Finance.
With staffs often in excess of 100 hand-picked professionals per committee, the chairmen could choose their issues of interest, initiate public hearings, publish findings, and produce legislation.
The most professional staffs on the Hill are those that work on House and Senate committees.
They are experts in their area, they know the Hill, they write the legislation, push the legislation, they do everything but pass it.
The majority staff works for the committee chairman, the minority staff is less important and works for the ranking member of the minority party of the committee which, for the past 26 years, was Republican.
These committee staffs, especially the majority staff, develop into well-run organizations in their own right.
On November 4, 1980, the Senate committee organization was dismantled by the will of the people. Senator Long went to bed as one of the most powerful men in the U.S. Senate and woke up as another senator from Louisiana.
The entire apparatus of the Senate Finance Committee will now be in the hands of Republican Senator Dole.
Congress had changed more dramatically than most Americans realize.
If I hadn’t been here, I don’t think I would have understood the significance of the change-over in the Senate.
It is potentially more critical than changing administrations.
The power of each Democratic member of the Democratically controlled House is now reduced.
Congress runs on compromise, and compromised positions will be closer to the Republican right if those positions are to survive at all. My year on Capitol Hill started with a revolution.
Editor’s note: David Garin is Associate Professor of Chemistry at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, currently on sabbatical leave.
Originally published in The Paper, March 1981.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times1981_03.pdf, printed page(s) 1; PDF page(s) 1.
