A TROUBLE-SHOOTER FOR CONGRESS
Reuss, Representative Henry S.
A Trouble-Shooter for Congress by REPRESENTATIVE HENRY S. REUSS The same Eighty-ninth Congress which passed such progressive measures as Medicare, aid to elementary and secondary education, and...
...He may make unannounced inspection trips...
...The result is that in complex cases the citizens' advocate in a Congressional office is frequently at the mercy of the administrative branch's experts...
...After listening to DeFrancisco's story, I dug out his Army records...
...Perhaps the proposal will have a better chance if we can resolve one problem...
...He has discretion to investigate a complaint or not, and he may undertake investigations on his own initiative...
...The casework burden is bound to increase in the years ahead...
...We do not want to create any new institution which would erode the functions of members of Parliament in this respect, nor to replace the remedies which the British Constitution already provides...
...Following exhaustive legal research which showed that the Army had no legal basis for recovery of the allotment, I went into Milwaukee Federal Court on several occasions to plead DeFrancisco's case...
...This Congressional "casework" role is important in humanizing government bureaucracy and making it responsible...
...In an historic decision, the Post Office Department put up partitions...
...He was discharged at Camp Beal, California, on April 19, 1946...
...Forty-two per cent thought it was a "good idea" to "set up an independent agency in Washington to handle the complaints of citizens who think they have not been treated properly by government officials...
...When he completed his investigation, he would report to the Congressman who referred the case to him and also make known to the agency concerned any recommendations for remedial action...
...Through centralization under the Federal ombudsman, Congress could have its own experts looking into citizens' grievances...
...When the door to the men's room was open, the toilet facilities were in full view of the occupants of the adjoining lunch room...
...The ombudsman or Administrative Counsel would extend this service into the area of casework...
...Our proposal is to develop those remedies still further...
...Widespread interest in the institution has resulted in a second printing of a new book edited by Professor D. C. Rowat, The Ombudsman: Citizen's Defender (University of Toronto Press...
...But the great difficulty is: How can members of Congress continue to give citizens the help they need in problems with the Federal bureaucracy and still find time to be effective, thoughtful, original legislators...
...Hardly anyone can pronounce "ombudsman," and trying to pronounce it tends to provoke titters among the uninitiated...
...In the summer of 1960, John J. DeFrancisco of Milwaukee, penniless and unable to hire an attorney, came to me after the Army had obtained a $5,253 judgment against him...
...The employes got nowhere with their complaints and turned to me for help...
...A solution I have advanced is the ombudsman—the outlandish Swedish word for "representative...
...In fact, under the language of the ombudsman bill, cases could be referred to the ombudsman only when a citizen "alleges that he believes that he has been subjected to any improper penalty, or that he has been denied any right or benefit to which he is entitled, under the laws of the United States, or that the determination of award of any such right or benefit has been, is being, or will be unreasonably delayed...
...In another regressive action it so distorted the proposed highway beautification program that the HENRY S. REUSS, Wisconsin Democrat, has served in the House of Representatives since 1954...
...He is a member of the House Government Operations Committee and is the author of "The Critical Decade...
...Toilets in the postoffice men's room were without doors...
...Yet I suspect that opposition was exaggerated by implications in the question that the ombudsman would be asked to do "errands and favors" and that Congressmen would wash their hands of any concern about the fate of citizens' grievances and non-policy requests...
...Citizens' problems with the bureaucracy are an inevitable concomitant of the modern state...
...The ombudsman proposal is currently under consideration by the Joint Committee on the Organization of Congress, which will make its recommendations for Congressional reform this year...
...Twenty-nine per cent thought this was a "poor idea," and an equal number had no opinion...
...Thus, like his overseas prototypes, he would have the power to investigate, recommend, and publicize...
...Other nations, looking for a means of redressing individual grievances against the bureaucracy, have been attracted to the ombudsman concept...
...Like the United States, Britain is a country with a tradition that its national legislators help constituents with their problems with the government...
...Although he has no power to change an administrative decision, the prestige of the office has given the ombudsman's recommendations for remedial action great weight...
...The ombudsman, seeing the entire pattern of citizens' complaints, would be better able to identify trouble spots and recommend remedial action...
...Establishment of an American ombudsman would have four major advantages: One—It would free time for members of Congress and their staffs to work on the important national and international issues that confront Congress...
...Recently, the Gallup Poll asked some questions about the ombudsman idea...
...I argued against a series of "reasons" why nothing could be done—such as the need for inspectors to be able to watch for thefts from the mails, and the cost of doors...
...In a case where an agency was unwilling to correct what the ombudsman considered a serious administrative error or abuse, the ombudsman could make a special report to Congress which would be printed as a public document and be available to the press...
...It is constructive to have the actions of remote, permanent civil servants reviewed continually by Congressmen and Senators who must answer to the people every two or six years...
...The effect is to prod bureaucrats into the best possible administration of the laws...
...Every year, the average Representative must deal with several thousand "cases...
...Instead, they find that much of their time, and the time of their staffs, is devoted to what they call their "casework"—the job of helping citizens with their problems with the Federal bureaucracy...
...The Congress also adhered to its unhappy precedent of spending $16 billion yearly for research and development—ninety per cent in defense, space, and atomic energy, ten per cent in health, education, and all other areas—without ever examining the entire program and relating the allocation of funds to the priorities among our national needs...
...Finally, the Army decided to drop its unjust claim...
...A forty-six to forty-one plurality is not to be disregarded for a proposal such as this...
...DeFrancisco, who had only a grade school education, ignored the notice of the suit and the Army obtained the judgment...
...We shall give Members of Parliament a better instrument which they can use to protect the citizen, namely, the services of a Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration...
...In October, 1965, the British government issued a White Paper announcing its intention to establish an ombudsman during this session of Parliament...
...The American ombudsman is based not only on the Scandinavian institution but also on our own experience with the Legislative Counsel and the Legislative Reference Service...
...For example, Social Security and welfare programs spawn individual injustices when there is administrative error, abuse of discretion, delay, or discourtesy...
...Several men who were disabled in mine accidents, and had been denied veterans' disability payments, instituted court proceedings to collect compensation as a result of the DeFrancisco case...
...After three months of basic training he was sent with other "soldiers" to Houghton, Michigan, with instructions to report to the copper mine...
...Take another case...
...It is one of the functions of the elected Member of Parliament to try to secure that his constituents do not suffer injustice at the hand of the Government...
...Ombudsman bills have also been introduced in five state legislatures, with a California bill winning passage in the lower house...
...F'unneling cases through members of Congress allows the Congressman to remain directly concerned with his constituents' problems, but relieves him of much of the time-consuming work involved...
...He may compel testimony and the production of evidence...
...And this is exactly what millions of Americans do every year...
...He may suggest changes in procedure to avoid future difficulties...
...By this time, the case had attracted national publicity...
...They range from simple ones that can be cleared up with a telephone call—such as a delayed Social Security check—to complex matters which require many hours of work by the Congressman and his staff...
...He was issued a card by the Army stating that he was "on furlough from the United States Army...
...As a result of the newspaper stories, other men who had been drafted and sent to the mines were able to have similar judgments against them dismissed...
...In 1958, male employes of the Hilltop post office in Milwaukee were outraged by an invasion of their privacy...
...On the other hand, Administrative Counsel of the Congress sounds awfully bland...
...He received no pay from the Army...
...Cases" are estimated to comprise anywhere from a third to two-thirds of all the mail that pours into Congressional offices...
...In 1958, the Army filed suit to recover the allotments plus interest...
...The biggest single barrier to an independent, positive role by Congress is the inability of its members to devote enough time to thought, study, and debate on the great questions of national and international policy...
...Then Gallup posed the issue in the following terms: "As you may know, Congressmen spend about half their time doing errands and favors for people in their districts...
...He may publicize his findings and make recommendations to the Parliament...
...Under the present system, Congressional casework is handled by men-of-all-work in the offices of Representatives and Senators, almost none of whose staff budgets can afford true experts in even the major categories of casework...
...Moreover, Congressmen would continue their interest in their constituents' problems...
...Senator Claiborne Pell of Rhode Island introduced a companion bill in the Senate...
...Ombudsman bills are before the Committee on House Administration and the Senate Rules Committee...
...I even offered to buy a partition to allow some privacy...
...Most Senators also will serve larger populations...
...Forty-one per cent regarded it as a "poor idea," and thirteen per cent had no opinion...
...Forty-six per cent thought this was a "good idea...
...Litigation, moreover, is slow and costly...
...He would also make an annual report to Congress, containing more general recommendations and reports...
...In addition, new programs, such as Medicare and rent supplements, will generate added cases...
...While working in the mines, DeFrancisco was paid $4.60 a day by a mining firm, almost all of which was spent on room and board...
...In Britain," says the October British Government White Paper, "Parliament is the place for ventilating the grievances of the citizen—by history, tradition, and past and present practice...
...The Federal ombudsman—or Administrative Counsel of the Congress, to give the office its formal name—would centralize much of the casework now being handled by 535 Congressmen, Senators, and their individual staffs...
...Or the hapless citizen may be baffled by seemingly endless red tape or the kind of jargon that often slips into agency forms and government statements...
...He stands ready to receive any Swedish citizen's complaint concerning government administration...
...So, in reality, the aggrieved citizen is without any remedy to fit the grievance in most cases —except to write his Congressman...
...It would build on the firmly established tradition of "write your Congressman...
...When he has completed his investigation, he may make recommendations for the correction of any abuse or error he finds...
...I inspected the station...
...measure finally enacted, to the dismay of most members, proves to be a step backward for the twenty states which will be deprived of their right to continue to remove billboards under their police powers...
...We took the name of our Senate from Rome, our Speaker from the English House of Commons, and our doctrine of separation of powers from the French philosophers...
...I wrote scores of letters to the Milwaukee Postmaster, regional postal officials, Washington postal officials, and finally the Postmaster General...
...With complaints so scattered under present arrangements, it may not be recognized that a vast number of problems arise from a single source...
...Cases could come to the ombudsman only through members of Congress...
...Four—It would be more efficient than continuing increases in individual Congressmen's staffs...
...He was ordered to keep his uniforms in shape and be ready to move out on twenty-four hours notice...
...The ombudsman originated in Sweden in 1809 as an agent of Parliament to assure proper administration of the laws— which is still his role today...
...If dissatisfied with the ombudsman's investigation or report, they could pursue cases further...
...Two—It would more effectively protect citizens' rights against administrative abuse...
...Clearly, the infusion of some forty "additional" progressive Congressmen and the limited rules changes made in the House last January have not solved all the problems involved in developing a more effective Congress...
...The possibility of adverse publicity, marshaling public opinion against an agency, or of legislative action, adds to the tendency of administrators to heed the ombudsman's recommendations...
...Finland established an ombudsman in 1919, Denmark in 1955, New Zealand in 1962, and Norway in 1963...
...A Trouble-Shooter for Congress by REPRESENTATIVE HENRY S. REUSS The same Eighty-ninth Congress which passed such progressive measures as Medicare, aid to elementary and secondary education, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 also passed, after only the briefest consideration, an inflammatory declaration of the right to unilateral intervention in Latin America...
...Congressmen could refer cases or continue to handle them themselves as at present...
...To respond by merely adding to existing office staffs would provide only an unwieldy, costly, inefficient means of handling the growing volume of casework...
...Three—It would allow more effective diagnosis and the elimination of root causes of recurring difficulties between citizens and the bureaucracy...
...We could do worse than to borrow the concept of the Swedish ombudsman...
...How complex these cases can be may be judged from the following example...
...He may be unaware of any legal recourse he may have...
...To give Congressmen more time to consider new legislation it has been suggested that all letters and requests—except those dealing with policy matters—be turned over to a central bureau for handling...
...He would have power to obtain any necessary papers and files and to consult with Federal officials without the permission of their supervisors...
...The population of House districts is growing rapidly and in 1980 will average 564,000 inhabitants per district, compared with 410,481 in 1960...
...They confirmed his story in every respect except that they listed him in the "ready reserve" instead of "on active duty" during the period he worked in the mines...
...DeFrancisco, a copper miner, had been drafted into the Army on August 7, 1942...
...The United States has created many of its institutions of government by borrowing and adapting...
...His wife, a son, and his wife's two minor sisters, lived on an $80 a month Army allotment check...
...Thinking they were still in the Army, DeFrancisco and his companions worked in the mines from November 4, 1942, until June 11, 1945 when DeFrancisco was sent with an Army unit to the West Coast...
...An eminent jurist or administrative expert, he would be paid the same salary as members of Congress...
...The law would rule out any possibility that the ombudsman would become a favor-seeker or errand boy...
...In July, 1963, and again in February, 1965, I introduced legislation to establish an American ombudsman to help Congressmen help their constituents...
...He would be appointed by the Speaker and the President pro tem of the Senate solely on the basis of fitness and without regard to party...
...Assisted by a staff of experts in the major types of casework, he would investigate cases referred to him by members of Congress...
...Through them, Congress has given itself the benefits of expert, centralized assistance in the drafting of legislation and in legislative research...
...The British ombudsman proposal, which is strikingly like the American scheme in many ways, also would channel complaints through members of the legislature...
...A better name, anyone...
...Not until last year, after I threatened a House committee investigation, was an elementary right to privacy respected...
Vol. 30 • February 1966 • No. 2
