Previous | Next
Part: 12 Session: 123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233343536 Page 862863864865866867868869870871872873874875876877878879880881882883884885886887888889890891892893894895896897898899900901902903904905 of 1143
supported the writing of a pamphlet, I think by Hurwitz, “Legal Aspects of Adding to the Rules Committee,” and how this could be gotten around, and Bolling was interested in this. And actually when the Congress met in '61, there was a change in the numbers of the Rules Committee but they added only two more Democrats which turned out not to be enough because Judge Smith is still recalcitrant and this didn't give the liberal Democrats an overwhelming majority to get education or civil rights bills cut. So, while it was an improvement, it wasn't a solution. The Rules Committee needs to be enlarged so that representatives from the South cannot bottle up civil rights legislation and other kinds of legislation at will when the Congress as a whole really needs to vote on it one way or the other.
I think this summarizing our efforts in the field of legislation outside of the medical research and health field. I don't know whether I said that in '63 we had great progress in the passage of the Aid to Medical Education Bill, which had been bottled up for many years in the House and never had gotten out of the House before. It has now been signed and made into law by the President. (Jane, please put in the amounts of money over the term of years that this represents.) And the Mental Retardation and Mental Health Act, which was introduced by the Administration in response to the interest really of Mr. Kennedy's sister, Mrs. Sargent Shriver, and to his own interest in retardation. As a result of their interest in retardation they were willing to encompass the needs in the mental health field, although this wasn't their primary interest at all. Their interest is mainly in retardation. These two bills have passed
© 2006 Columbia University Libraries | Oral History Research Office | Rights and Permissions | Help