THE CONGRESS: Program Notes

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In the congressional offseason, Washington's bare stage seemed especially inviting to the political Thespian. Thus, last week, did Minnesota's Democratic Senator Hubert Humphrey cartwheel out with a proposal that won top billing in a slow political week. Along with five other Northern and Western Democrats (Illinois' Paul Douglas, Oregon's Wayne Morse and Richard Neuberger, Montana's James Murray and Michigan's Pat McNamara), Humphrey circulated for publication a "Democratic Declaration of 1957." Its message: as soon as the Congress opens, make an attempt to end Senate filibusters and enact civil-rights legislation.

Under present Senate rules, a two-thirds vote of the full Senate membership is required to cut off filibusters. Humphrey & Co. propose to change the rules so that a simple (i.e., non-Southern) majority can shut off debate. New York's Republican Senator Irving Ives, who is up for re-election in 1958, and New Jersey's Republican Senator Clifford Case found it difficult to resist. In a slow political week, they too added their names to the list of cloture sponsors.

Much the same attempt to limit debate was made in 1953, but it accomplished nothing. Theoretically the U.S. Senate considers its rules virtually sacrosanct. It describes itself as a "continuing body"—with continuing rules. Its purists hold that the filibuster is not so much a deceitful parliamentary device as a bulwark of the high principle of "unlimited debate."

The prospect for 1957: opposition from Texas' Lyndon Johnson, Senate Majority Leader; a long spiel, many leaps and bounds, and more nothing.