The 88th Congress opened for business Wednesday and dealt sudden death to conservative members' hopes of recapturing control of the key House Rules Committee. This victory for President Kennedy had been expected, but the size of his margin was a surprise. On the decisive vote in the House, his supporters won 235-196. The vote kept the size of the Rules Committee at 15 members. If Kennedy's forces had failed, it would have reverted to 12 members, leaving the committee in the grip of a coalition of conservative Republicans and Southern Democrats opposed to major elements of Kennedy's legislative program. The committee, which controls the flow of most legislation to the floor of the House, had been under the domination of this coalition until two years ago...
The 88th Congress opened for business Wednesday and dealt sudden death to conservative members' hopes of recapturing control of the key House Rules Committee. This victory for President Kennedy had been expected, but the size of his margin was a surprise. On the decisive vote in the House, his supporters won 235-196. The vote kept the size of the Rules Committee at 15 members. If Kennedy's forces had failed, it would have reverted to 12 members, leaving the committee in the grip of a coalition of conservative Republicans and Southern Democrats opposed to major elements of Kennedy's legislative program. The committee, which controls the flow of most legislation to the floor of the House, had been under the domination of this coalition until two years ago...
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