Congress Recognizes the Need to Streamline

As one of the original authors of the proposal to establish a Joint Committee on the Organization of Congress, I must take issue with a point raised in the front page article "Facing Criticism, Congress Tries to Reform Itself," March 30.

The article indicates that the Joint Committee was "another initiative launched last week." In fact, the initiative was launched last July, well before the current spate of major and minor scandals in the House that have contributed to public dissatisfaction with this institution. The article leaves the impression that the bipartisan proposal is a response to those scandals. Nothing could be further from the truth. We have long been concerned about the capacity of Congress, as presently organized, to dea l effectively with the nation's problems. Our proposal emerged from that concern.

Our press conference on March 25, was called to update the public on the status of our proposal and to announce that a majority of the Senate and nearly a majority of the House had agreed to cosponsor our effort. We are hopeful that both houses will act shortly on the measure. Rep. Bill Gradison (R), Washington

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