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University Daily Kansan, December 6., 1982
Slatterv vies for power in new Congress
By BRUCE SCHREINER Staff Reporter
Jim Slattery is doing a different kind of campaigning now than he did in the fall, and the outcome could determine whether Mrs. Bush will be U.S. House of Representatives will be.
Slattery, who will become the 2nd Congressional District's representative in January, is competing with one of the largest freshman classes in recent history for the important committee seats open to new members.
He has been in Washington since early last week for orientation sessions, which will continue through the end of this week.
Seats on the two most powerful committees, Ways and Means and Appropriations, are off limits to freshman congressmen. But Slattery is competing with 56 other new House Democrats for positions on three committees that compose the second tier of power: the Energy and Commerce, Armed Services and Banking committees.
EARLIER, SLATTERY indicated interest in the Education Committee, but last Friday he said the possibility of dramatic changes in banking laws made the Banking Committee appealing.
Slattery, a 34-year-old Teopka businessman, said he was confident that his lobbying efforts would be rewarded with a good committee assignment. But he said it was too early to say which assignments he would land, because the seats he would not be filled until January.
"I'm relatively confident I will get one of the three assignments," he said. "But there are many sharp people, so there is a great deal of competition."
Much of Slattery's first week on Capitol Hill was spent getting acquainted with other freshman congressman and the House Democratic leadership. He also attended several workshops on House protocol.
Slattery, who defeated Lawrence Republican Morris Kay to succeed Republican John Jeffries, said he was hit with the leadership and with his classmates.
Jim Slattery
ONE OF the week's highlights was a complimentary visit with House Speaker Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill Jr., D-Mass., to discuss committee assignments and other organizational matters.
Slattery has also visited with Majority Slatteray Leader Jim Wright, D-Texas; Majority Whip Thomas Foley, D-Mich.; and several committee chairmen.
"I'm encouraged, because they appear to be a group with their feet on the ground and committed to dealing with the issue of land rights and entitlement programs," he said.
"I find that we are taking the same language. I think they also realize the importance of doing some things that have to be done with the economy."
"It is important for new members to be acquainted with the leadership, for we will need to call on the leadership for help in constituent service," Slattery said. "The speaker will give us advice or offer policy. He will make the chairman of General Motors wait so he can visit with a freshman."
After several meetings with other freshman congressmen, Slattery is enthusiastic, because he has found that their views are similar to his.
TO LIFT the economy from its dolrums, Slattery has called for budget cuts in the departments of Defense and Energy and for changing the method of computing future benefit increases in entitlement programs.
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He also recommends reviewing military foreign aid and is considering
Until he officially assumes office, Slattery will work from both his motel room and the offices of Jiffries and Rep. Dan Glickman, D-Kan. Glickman is Kansas' only other Democratic representative'.
Satterly said he had had trouble keeping up with the flood of letters sent to him.
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Democrats gained 26 House seats in the November elections, and many observers think the Reagan administration's shaky House coalition will collapse because of those gains. But the Republicans have also wondered whether the coalition, which consisted of Republicans and Southern Democrats, was dead.
SLATTERY ALSO is experiencing the headaches that traditionally face newcomers to Capitol Hill. He said his biggest problem during the transition was lack of an office and clerical assistance.
Despite the large number of freshmen, Slattery realizes that new congressmen will have to accept situations to what they can accomplish.
"I'm hopeful that as a freshman congressman I can have an important input into the national decision-making process," he said. "But I am just one of 435 and at the end of the line. So there will be certain limitations."
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supporting a delay in the final leg of President Reagan's three-year, 25 percent tax cut.
He said he began receiving about 50 letters a day after the election, but he could not hire congressional payroll to read the mail until he took office.
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