Word: democratic
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...changes have enormously increased members' workloads. During one ho-hum week last year. Congress' 54 committees and 269 subcommittees held 249 hearings. Tennessee Senator James Sasser, a freshman Democrat, notes that eleven hour days are common. Texas Democrat George Mahon had three employees when he entered the House in 1935 and now has eleven, but, he says, "we still can't keep up with the work. All eyes turn to Washington for solutions to all problems. It's an entirely different world." Mo Udall figures that he cast three times as many votes (645) in the House last year...
Other members gripe about the time that they must spend traveling to home districts and their lack of family life. Adds Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy, a first-term Democrat: "There is no time to think ahead on important issues. It's even impossible to think out just the political effects of a decision." Democratic Senator Lawton Chiles of Florida bemoans life in a fishbowl: "Half of the reporters in town are looking on you as a Pulitzer Prize waiting...
Worn down, many veterans of Congress have given up the struggle to stay in office. Remarks Michigan Democrat John Conyers, who has served in the House since 1965: "Congress used to be a lifetime career. You died in Congress, or you tried to become Governor or Senator. On a clear day, some guys even saw the White House. Now members are cashing in early. Congressmen are being watched more closely, criticized more and prosecuted more. And the pay is not that munificent. Lobbyists make twice as much...
...Gary Hart of Colorado, a first-term Senator: "Many members come in here having already done something interesting; they think about doing this only for a while, then doing something different." Hart, 40, who was George McGovern's campaign manager in 1972, is thinking about challenging Carter for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1980. Senator John Danforth, a freshman Republican from Missouri, calls himself "a citizen on leave to the Government." Some oldtimers regard the career switchers as unprofessional. Louisiana Democrat Lindy Boggs, who was elected in 1973 to a congressional seat that her late husband Hale Boggs had held...
...referendum was opposed by the Catholic Church and some junta members. Eduardo Frei Montalva, the Christian Democrat who was President from 1964 to 1970, broke a long silence to fight the referendum. He charged that the plebiscite was an attempt to confuse patriotism with support for the government, and refused to vote...