In the Halls of Power

...In 1943, the Senate had 304 staff aides...

...The co-authors are experienced observers of the Hill: Peter Woll, a Professor of Politics at Brandeis, has written on and consulted for Congress...

...They recount the battle between Senator Edmund Muskie's Budget Committee and Senator Russell Long's Finance Committee with zest and expertise...

...surely the outside world of fame and money plays some role as well...

...Congress is a separate place but not an isolated one...

...Reviewed by Elliott Abrams Former Special Counsel to Senator Daniel P. Moynihan Opinion polls tell us that Congress is held in low esteem by the American people...

...Ambition within Congress is a too little noticed and key factor in what takes place, but not the single determinant Woll and Jones make it out to be...

...Rochelle Jones has worked for three Senators...

...They wisely lace their stories with enough quotations from the Congressional Record to give us a strong impression of personal encounters and floor fights...

...The rhetoric of reform masks the underlying forces at work," the authors show, in many disputes over committee structure and leadership roles...

...The authors point out that staffs have grown phenomenally in recent years...

...Woll and Jones see this private congressional life determining not only the form but the volume of legislation...

...That overlooks a less happy consequence of the power struggle within Congress: The growth of staffs and of legislative activity have themselves spurred the growth of "big government...

...in 1966, 2,445...

...As the role and activities of the Federal government expand, Senators hire staff to keep up—an aide for energy, for OSHA, for EPA, for Defense, for EEOC, etc...

...Legislation is the product of internal pressure to prove oneself...

...They have produced a serious, intelligent, well-informed work...

...If Woll and Jones have not produced a major work of political philosophy, The Private World of Congress is nevertheless quite valuable...

...The goal of achieving power and status in Congress offers the single best explanation for the individual behavior of members of Congress and the collective behavior of Congress itself...

...Had this book been available to President Carter in the fall of 1976, he and we might be in better shape today...

...But there is a definite catch to this: "The real work of the United States Senate is carried on by the staff...

...One need merely glance at the voting record of, say, Senator Frank Church, to see that this is not the case...

...Thus even moves for "reform" are often essentially plays for power...

...With this in mind, Jones and Woll turn, as they must, to a study of day-to-day operations on the Hill...

...But this portrait of Capitol Hill as the gathering place of 535 unprincipled vote-seekers is simplistic: Each legislator has his individual objectives and strategies...

...The growth in staff has enabled Senators to step up their legislative activity and thus add to their stature within the body, but it has brought about a diminution of real power...

...And in recent years a number of political scientists have taken to arguing that the disenchantment reflects the electorate's perception of Congressmen as being concerned only about their re-election...

...In countering the contention that the lawmakers' sole concern is re-election, though, The Private World of Congress goes too far in arguing that electoral politics has little bearing on their behavior...

...In large part, this is a measure of the dispersal of power from a few senior committee chairmen to all Senators: "Power has been spread out and down, and the result is more staff for more members...

...Neither its Drew Pear-sonish title, suggesting revelations of financial or sexual hanky-panky, nor other shortcomings prevent it from conveying much useful information about how Congress actually conducts its business...

...The expanding role of Congressmen as ombudsmen for individuals maltreated by some government agency reinforces this process, for in checking the power of the Federal bureaucracy it still leaves the citizen dependent on government...

...The Private World of Congress seeks to redress some of the cynicism of the election-centered view...

...Although it is true that "Members of Congress and staff manipulate external politics for internal purposes," it is also true that national politics can profoundly affect what goes on in Congress...

...They trace the development of the committee system, and of the powers of the Speaker, with detail and understanding...

...the events and interests of the real world do penetrate its walls...

...Significantly, too, who sponsors a bill can be as important for its chances of passage as what is in it...

...Woll and Jones rightly conclude: "The scramble for staff has had an unintended consequence...

...Congress has effectively opposed Presidential and bureaucratic power, but it has done little to prevent the Federal government from becoming ever more intrusive in our private lives...

...After a discussion of Ted Kennedy's Senate career, they observe that it "illustrates the way the quest for personal power generates legislation...

...It is simply wrong to say that "legislation ultimately succeeds or fails as a result of internal power struggles...

...Within Congress the energy legislation appeared to be determined by the internal balance of fares between House and Senate, and among the leadership, members and crucial committees of both bodies...

...Members of both Houses, they contend, function in a "private world" where success consists of how many staff retainers, chairmanships and leadership roles one commands...

...There is a real world out there, and Congressmen are sensitive to its every shifting wind...

...Surely re-election remains on the minds of Senators, and even more of Congressmen...

...in 1976, 4,785...

...The views of their constituencies are crucial to most members, as are their own personal ideologies...

...The authors write clearly and with authority, and give the reader a good sense of the flavor of life on Capitol Hill...

...The authors have a central theme: "Congressmen seek re-election because they are hooked on Congress itself...

...The discussion of staff is especially interesting...

...Failing to recognize this, the authors go on to conclude that the isolation of Congress is highly beneficial to our style of government: "The quest for power profoundly affects public policy .. . the private world of Capitol Hill fortifies the constitutional separation of powers and the overall pluralism of the policy process...

...Their brief history lessons are accurate, and their vignettes of the lawmakers in action are often superb...

...Moreover, in the private world, real world influences frequently have minimal importance, as the 1977-78 battle over energy legislation demonstrated: "Off Capitol Hill energy legislation seemed to be dominated by special interests, and to reflect the ideological views of party and regions...

...It may be guarding its position as an institution, then, more effectively than it is protecting the autonomy of individual citizens...

...Power is diffused...

...Yet soon there is so much going on that a Senator finds himself hard pressed to know exactly what each person is up to...

...Members of Congress may introduce bills or seek amendments, or indeed attempt to block legislative action, simply to enhance their own reputations, rather than to reach substantive goals...

...In their chapters on staff, perquisites and committees, Jones and Woll flesh out their theory...

...They are motivated by a desire for personal power, and their goal is power and status on the Hill...

...Senators are increasingly less able to influence the outcome of events...