Congress: We The People 8/23/1983
Congress: We The People 8/23/1983
Congress: We The People 8/23/1983
Congress: We The People 8/23/1983
Host Ed Newman, One of the most dramatic breakthroughs in gaining access to Congress came in 1979 when the House of Representatives opened its Floor debate to TV coverage. Series editor Norman Ornstein knows that access was not gained easily. I remember, Norm, that when Sam Rayburn was Speaker, he was against any television coverage, even of Committee hearings. Norman Ornstein, Rayburn was afraid TV would distort the time honored ways in which the House conducted its business from Floor debate to the behind the scenes wheeling and dealing. And that sentiment was shared by many of his colleagues. Many of those misgivings disappeared after TV cameras were finally installed in the House. But then the issues came before the Senate.
Congress: We The People 8/23/1983
Senate Committee Hearing on TV coverage in the Senate. Senator Howard Baker (R Tennessee) ...the only time the full Senate is on television is to sit and listen to the President of the United States address a joint session of the Congress of the United States. I believe in the Senate. I believe the Senate has a special, and a unique and a historic role. But I believe we are not performing it because we ve lost our character as a great debating group, a great deliberative body.
Congress: We The People 8/23/1983
CU of monitor with Senator Howard Baker on screen, pull back to people running the cameras.
Congress: We The People 8/23/1983
Senator Russell Long (D Louisiana) what it was I did. When we put television in here, on what the media thinks it should be, a free and unlimited basis - pick up a Senator and for some reason he just don t look his best. Now the good Lord only knows why the man didn t look his best, but they show that and let the public draw their own conclusions and the conclusion is adverse.
Congress: We The People 8/23/1983
Television camera in Senate Committee hearing
Congress: We The People 8/23/1983
Senator Dan Quayle (R Indiana) It was viewed with skepticism. As a matter of fact, I can recall the debate in the House of Representatives. People got up there and they said oh, this place will never be the same. How can you allow television cameras into the House of Representatives. People will get up and be speaking to the folks back home and won t be paying any attention to the business at hand
Congress: We The People 8/23/1983
Representative Silvio Conte (R Massachusetts) let me go on with this disaster. They would require the construction of this first phase, under this Senate amendment, of three of this environmentally unsound maze of canals, dams and reservoirs which have skyrocketed in the cost of $207 million - oh listen to this to $101 billion. One billion! One billion!
Congress: We The People 8/23/1983
Senator Dan Quayle (R Indiana) My good friend Silvio. He hasn t really changed. Some of those great one liners that he has before TV or after TV. He was still capable of getting up there and giving a rousing, emotional speech. He did that before television came into the House of Representatives.
Congress: We The People 8/23/1983
The House of Representative TV control room. An editor pulling levers and turning knobs on the control desk. Tapes turning on reels.
Congress: We The People 8/23/1983
Phil Jones, CBS reporter In this picture, you always see only the person talking. Now if the House Floor is empty which I would venture to say right now on a Monday is empty you never get a picture of that. They never show it because that s one side of the institution that they don t want you to see. And we complain about that. And we wanted out cameras in there. But no way.
Congress: We The People 8/23/1983
Senate Rules Committee hearing on allowing TV coverage. Senator John Warner (R Virginia) In your judgment, has the television in the House of Representatives over the past few years raised the quality of the written law that has emerged? Representative John Rousselot (R - California) I clearly can t answer that and wouldn t pretend to that that necessarily has been the case. I do believe that the quality of debate has improved. Senator John Warner (R Virginia) But you can t make any judgment as to whether or not the quality of the legislative written word has improved? Representative John Rousselot (R - California) Of course not.
Congress: We The People 8/23/1983
Senator John Danforth (R Missouri) how do we make public policy? Is public policy making simply a matter of playing to the crowd? Is it simply a matter of grandstanding, or public relations, or glib comment? Or is public policy making something that s more deliberative than that and does it require an element of thoughtfulness and care in debate which is probably different than the kind of debate that s normally found on TV.
Congress: We The People 8/23/1983
Senator Dan Quayle (R Indiana) My argument from experience in the House of Representatives, that these same horror stories, these same claims of things that are going to happen, really did not happen in the House of Representatives. And I don t believe that they ll happen in the United States Senate. And I believe as rational men and women that we can make these accommodations and we can have televised proceedings in the Senate as the House does.
Congress: We The People 8/23/1983
Senator John Danforth (R Missouri) When the Founding Fathers created the House and Senate as different entities, with different terms and different styles, they really had something special in mind. And that before we depart too radically from what the Founding Fathers intended we should think twice.
Congress: We The People 8/23/1983
Senate Committee Hearing. Walter Cronkite In this era when broadcast news has become such a major source of news for the American people. It seems to me ironic that the proceedings of the world s greatest deliberative body are not available through that medium. Senator Russell Long (D Louisiana) something the Senate shouldn t do. Now let the House do that. You have no right to expect much statesmanship out of the House. If you get any you re lucky. They re elected on two year terms and those fellas are running for re-election all the time. Senator Dennis DeConcini (D Arizona) I have to disagree that there s no statesmanship in the House. I think that s very unfair to our colleagues there. I think there are some outstanding members. And I think the Senator on reflection can probably call to mind a few of his colleagues over there that demonstrate great statesmanship on or off television. Senator Russell Long (D Louisiana) Well that s a big misunderstanding. Let me say this. We get a lot more statesmanship over there than we have any right to expect.