"Distinguished," said House Majority Leader Thomas P. ("Tip") O'Neill of the 94th Congress that reached mid-point last week. "Futile," declared House Minority Leader John Rhodes, judging the same performance.
Both O'Neill and Rhodes were partially right. The Congress that adjourned in a scramble of legislation just before Christmas was involved in more than a classic confrontation between a liberal Democratic majority and a conservative Republican President. From the rap of the first gavel last January, Congress was striving to regain lost ground in its continuing power struggle with the Executive. Simultaneously, reformers were at work in both chambers—particularly in the House—trying...
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