Word: caucus
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Thus, at their caucus on the Saturday before Congress convened, the Democrats made sure that henceforth things would be different. They did it by simply canceling a gentlemanly, if arbitrary, agreement made years ago between the late Speaker Sam Rayburn and G.O.P. Leader Joe Martin, to the effect that the ratio of party memberships on the two committees would be frozen, no matter what the makeup of the House. On Ways and Means, the majority party had 15, the minority 10, and on Appropriations the ratio was 30 to 20. The caucus voted to reject that standing ratio and make...
...Smith had almost dictatorial powers, because of a coalition with Republicans. Smith's strength was dissipated in 1961 when John Kennedy and Speaker Rayburn rammed through a change in committee membership. But Lyndon's lieutenants in Congress wanted to take no chances of any kind, and the caucus approved new rules that would give Speaker McCormack broad powers to release any bill bogged down in the Rules Committee for more than 21 days. Opponents of the move complained that it meant a return to the bad old days when the Speaker was a near autocrat, but the speakership...
First, the House Democratic Caucus demoted two southern Democrats, John Bell Williams of Mississippi and Albert W. Watson of South Carolina, to the very bottom of the seniority ladder because they openly supported Barry Goldwater for the Presidency. The emphatic margin in the Caucus (157-115) suggests that southern conservatives will no longer be able to enjoy the advantages of a Democratic label on Capital Hill and a Goldwater labed back home...
More significantly, effective impetus for liberal measures is now coming not from just the White House or the Senate, but from the House Democratic caucus. The Democratic Study Group (made up of 125 liberals) initiated the purge against Wattson and Williams; the Administration appears to have maintained strict neutrality. Nor did the Administration have to press for rules changes; liberal Congressmen got their package passed by their own efforts...
...elect one of their own, the Christian Democrats had to unite behind a single candidate. A party caucus gave the nod to Lawyer Giovanni Leone, but many Christian Democratic Deputies refused to be bound by the decision. Indeed, ex-Premier Amintore Fanfani finally captured more than 100 of the 399 Christian Democratic votes available but withdrew after the eleventh ballot because of the combined pressure of the Vatican and his party chiefs. Fanfani was feared because he is shrewd, inventive (he created the "opening to the left" regime that still rules Italy) and unpredictable...