Since it was established in 1946, Congress' Joint Committee on Atomic Energy has been an effective board of directors for the U.S. atomic-energy program. But in the ten weeks of the 83rd Congress, the committee (nine Senators, nine Representatives) has been losing its grip. The reason: a Senate v. House deadlock over the chairmanship.
A Senator has always headed the committee. The first chairman, in the Republican 80th Congress, was Iowa's steady, hard-working Bourke B. Hickenlooper. In the Democratic 81st, Connecticut's yeasty Brien McMahon took over, to serve until he died last July. House members insist that there was an "understanding"...
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