A school for the elected

Commonweal, Nov 6, 1992 by Abigail McCarthy

A change is in the making which may affect many people more closely than a change in the presidency. That is the forthcoming change in the Congress--especially that in the House of Representatives. There will be more blacks in this Congress, more Hispanics, more women. There will be fewer congressmen and women from the Northeast and from the Plains states, for example, than from the South and the Southwest. Important as this change is, most of the voting public knows little about it--how it came about, how it will affect them. Everybody is willing to bash Congress; only lobbyists seem willing to study it. Change is imminent for several reasons.

First, fifty-two congressman have retired, some because of age, some out of sheer frustration, and a few out of fear of voter backlash. Second, the House, once fondly dubbed "The People's Branch" by the famed, late Speaker of the House Sam Raybum, will have representatives from nineteen new districts. Redistricting mandated by the Constitution occurs every ten years as a result of the census. It was originally meant to reflect population change, to make sure that all citizens had equal representation. The population of the country as a whole is divided by 435 to determine the number of people that should constitute a district. The states then establish the boundaries of the districts in order to give representation to the required number of people. There has always been a certain amount of juggling things about in drawing district lines-- gerrymandering as it is called--to gain some partisan advantage.

This year, however, a new element was injected into the establishment of districting boundaries. A court decision made it necessary to draw lines giving a district to a concentration of minorities wherever they are found. Thus, Congressman Stephen Solarz of New York, for example, round that he had to run in a district with a majority of Hispanics who rejected him in the primary. North Carolina's original redistricting plan was turned down and replaced by one creating a long skinny district nicknamed the Interstate 81 district whose boundaries take in pockets of blacks living along the highway. It is said that in order to make the connections, portions of the district are no wider than the highway itself.

Obviously this second change is meant to treat minorities justly and give them adequate representation. But some feminists object to the procedure. They say that as 52 percent of the population they are certainly underrepresented and clearly cannot be sorted out geographically. Blacks, too, are split in their view of the process. Some see it as condemning them to a minority status for the next fifty years and preventing "mainstreaming ."

Long-time Congress watchers are concerned that the redistricting process described above will only intensify what they see as the Balkanization of the House. After World War II when a new generation came to Congress any division rested on issues. The primary differences between Democrats and Republicans in the House were party-issue differences, and within the parties there was an occasional division between liberals and conservatives. Now there are many special interest concerns, represented in some cases by formalized caucuses such as the Sunbelt Caucus, the Black Caucus, the Hispanic Caucus, the Caucus on Women's Issues, even the Arts Caucus, which often take precedence over party affiliation.

Fortunately the new congressperson is not plunged into this complicated situation unaided. In recent decades a unifying and empowering force known as the New Member Orientation Program has developed. It is organized across party lines to clarify the overriding purpose of the Congress to provide for the general welfare of the nation.

In 1981 the Committee on House Administration inherited the responsibility for the coordination of the program from the Select Committee on Congressional Operations. The program is presented in four parts, two weeks in length. The initial part of the program consists of a bipartisan administrative briefing. This briefing addresses such subjects as congressional ethics, legal issues pertinent to congressional service, the federal election laws as they relate to Congress, and the establishment and management of a congressional office.

The next part of the program is the leadership orientation, presented on a partisan basis. The new congresspersons are briefed on parliamentary procedures, floor procedures, and the process of assignment to committees.

The third part of the program consists of the early organizational meetings of the Democratic Caucus and the Republican Conference, which are attended by all members, both newly elected and returning. The Democrats and Republicans meet separately to nominate candidates for Speaker, to elect the leaders of their caucus or conference, and to select their members to serve on the various committees of the House. They entertain motions to amend the rules of the House, as well as the rules of the caucus or conference. And they discuss legislative priorities.