The Eighty-First Congress: First and Second Sessions

• Date: 01 March 1951
• Published date: 01 March 1951
• DOI: 10.1177/106591295100400105
• Author: Floyd M. Riddick
• Subject Matter: Articles

THE EIGHTY-FIRST CONGRESS: FIRST AND
SECOND SESSIONS
FLOYD M. RIDDICK
Washington, D. C.
HE
EIGHTY-FIRST CONGRESS convened following an election
t
which swept the Republicans out of power in both the House and
Senate. President Truman, contrary to nearly all predictions, in-
cluding those by pollsters, had been re-elected by a large majority of the
electoral vote. In making his State of the Union address to Congress
assembled in joint session on January 5, 1949, the President very confi-
dently stated that &dquo;the recent election shows that the American people
are in favor of this kind of society and want to go on improving it [a
democratic foundation and that wealth should be created for the benefit
of all].&dquo; 1
.
The message reviewed in an abstract way, partly in the negative, the
economic state of the Union, and presented for congressional consideration
a domestic program in which &dquo;every American has a chance to obtain
his fair share of our increasing abundance,&dquo; including the improvement
of our social welfare; and the enactment of civil rights proposals. It stated
that &dquo;our domestic programs are the foundation of our foreign policy,&dquo;
and that &dquo;the heart of our foreign policy is peace.&dquo; There was no mention
of war or of an international crisis. This picture, however, had changed
almost completely by the time the Second Session was convened, and
certainly by the middle of the session. The military needs had increased
so rapidly by the beginning of 1950 that the regular budget estimates for
the military, presented to the Second Session, were delayed for a few
weeks; and even then, additional budget estimates had to be sent to
Congress in the latter part of the year in the amount of $19,925,666,938.
A
Second Supplemental Appropriation Bill for 1951 (H.R. 9920), based
on these estimates, which was not reported to the House until December
15, 1950, had to be enacted, involving appropriations of almost $20,000,-
000,000. Nearly all of these moneys were for defense purposes. The
President’s State of the Union message to the Second Session emphasized
peace and the international picture; and while it restated his domestic
program, that had really become secondary.
1
The insert in brackets is from the preceding paragraph of this message and defines "this kind of society"
which the President mentions. See 81 Cong. Rec. 66 (1949).
48

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49
ORGANIZATION
The Eighty-first Congress convened with a party division in the Senate
of 54 Democrats and 42 Republicans, as compared to 51 Republicans ant
45 Democrats in the Eightieth; likewise in the House, the division was
263 Democrats, 171 Republicans, and 1 American Labor, as compared
to 246 Republicans, 188 Democrats, and 1 American Labor.
The party division for the Second Session was left practically un-
changed. The only change in committee chairmen in the Senate during
the Congress was that of the Committee on the District of Columbia;
Senator J. Howard McGrath resigned his Senate seat to become Attorney
General; and Senator Neely, of West Virginia, became the new chairman
of that committee. In the House, the only changes during the two years
resulted from deaths of the former chairmen.
2
Thus, the political control of both houses changed from that of the
Eightieth Congress, requiring a re-examination of all committee assign-
ments and selection of chairmen; but on January 10, 1949, seven days
after the new Congress convened, the Senate had approved its Democratic
and Republican slates for all standing committee assignments, and the
House took this action on January 18, fifteen days after the session began.3
3
In the Senate, Senator Vandenberg was critical of the new party
division on the Foreign Relations Committee. In the Eightieth Congress
that division had been 7 Republicans and 6 Democrats; in the Eighty-
first it was changed to 8 Democrats and 6 Republicans. The Senator felt
that this action was not in keeping with the so-called bipartisan foreign
policy which he had followed.4
4
The leadership around which each party set up its organization for
operation of the legislative machine is shown in Table I. The leadership
slate had been determined by the opening day of the Eighty-first Congress,
and remained unchanged throughout both sessions.
2
Rep. Kee of West Virginia became chairman of Foreign Affairs at death of Rep. Bloom of New York;
Rep. Barden of North Carolina became chairman of Education and Labor at death of Rep.
Lesinski of Michigan; Rep. Hart of New Jersey became chairman of Merchant Marine and Fisheries
at death of Rep. Bland of Virginia; and Rep. Peterson of Florida replaced Rep. Somers of New
York as chairman of Public Lands.
3 See 81 Cong. Rec. 109-110, 484-485 (1949).
4
Senator Vandenberg, in addressing the Senate, stated in part: "I do not question the right of my
friends across the aisle to apply their percentage of membership, as they see fit, to any committee
in the Senate. They had to make a voluntary choice as between committees in selecting those to
which the more drastic penalty of curtailed minority membership should be applied, the penalty
of reducing the minority membership to five members. I merely wish to express my profound regret
that in the exercise of that discretion and in the operation of that purely voluntary will they chose
the Committee on Foreign Relations as one of those upon which the minority side of the com-
mittee should be reduced to the maximum possible." He continued: "I shall never cease to be
proud of the fact-I hope some day a record of equal unpartisan values can be made—I shall never
cease to be proud of the fact that upon 47 critical occasions in the Eightieth Congress, which in
this aspect was not the worst Congress in history, the President of the United States to the con-
trary notwithstanding, but was the best Congress in history, this committee voted 13 to 0 in
behalf of the national welfare. Thus we denied any possibility that any alien enemy might think
they could divide and conquer us." Senator Barkley, still floor leader, replied: "Mr. President,
I regret the necessity in this first real session of the Senate to indulge in anything that might even
seem to be a controversy over the assignment of Members of the Senate to committees. The
situation which we confronted in determining in the first place how many committees should have
a ratio of 8 to 5, and how many should have a ratio of 7 to 6, was one that presented difficulties."
81 Cong. Rec. 53 (1949).

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50
TABLE I
PROCEDURE
Volume of Business: There were two sessions of the Eighty-first Con-
gress. The first ran from January 3 through October 19, 1949, with the
House sitting 165 days and the Senate, 186.5 The Second Session ran from
January 3, 1950 through January 2, 1951, with the House sitting 180 days
and the Senate, 203.6 Both houses stood in recess over election from
September 23 until November 27, 1950. The business transacted during
both sessions is summarized in Table II.
Of the 1,201 measures passed by the Senate in the First Session, 9597
7
were disposed of under the calls of the Calendar for the passage of &dquo;un-
objected to bills.&dquo; Over 150 of the other 242 passed during the Session,
were called up out of order under unanimous consent procedure and
passed after little or no discussion. Of the 1,497 measures passed in the
Second Session, 1,2258 of them were disposed of under the calls of the
Calendar. About 200 of the other 272 passed during the session, were
5
The House was actually in session 704 hours and the Senate, 1,144. The House took a spring vacation
from April 14 to April 25.
6
The House was actually in session 796 hours and the Senate, 1,265. The House took a spring vacation
from April 6 through April 18; and in the fall, after it concluded most of its work for the session,
held a series of sittings twice a week without transacting business. A recess for two or three weeks
had been planned, but the Senate refused to approve the concurrent resolution for such an
adjournment. (See H. Con. Res. 193.)
7
Of the 959 bills passed on calls of Calendar, 491 of them were private. Under this procedure 147 bills
were passed in a single day.
8 Of the 1,225 bills passed on calls of Calendar, 824 of them were private. In the Second Session the
Calendar was called 10 times, and 267 bills were passed in a single day or one call.

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51
TABLE II
* Measures include H.R., H.J.Res., H.Con.Res., H.Res., S., S.J.Res., S.Con.Res., and S.Res.
called up under unanimous consent procedure, and passed after little or
no debate. Debate was devoted to 67 measures in the First Session and 79
in the Second Session as set forth in Table III.
The House passed 1,362 measures in the First Session, of which
approximately 900 were disposed of under special expeditious procedures
of the House.9 Many of the other 462 were called up under unanimous
consent, and passed with little or no debate. 10 The debate of legislation
during the session was devoted to 120 propositions, as shown in Table III.
During the Second Session, 1,704 measures were passed of which nearly
9
Under calls of the Consent Calendar, 327 were passed without objection; 494 were passed on calls of
Private Calendar without objection; 35 District of Columbia bills were passed on District of
Columbia Day; 35 were passed under Suspension of Rules; and 2 under the 21-day Rule (H.R.
3199, Poll Tax, and H.R. 5472, Rivers and Harbors Bill).
10
This number includes the special rules adopted, which were reported by...