Congressional leaders of the Republican and Democratic parties, in a reorganization of legislative committees for the 98th Congress, have assigned five new members to the House Education and Labor Committee and two new members to the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee.
In the Senate, Republicans Charles E. Grassley of Iowa and Alfonse M. D’Amato of New York will replace John P. East of North Carolina and Paula Hawkins of Florida on the committee. The choice of Senator D’Amato, who has supported education funding--especially for higher-education programs--is regarded as favorable by education lobbyists. Politically conservative Senators East and Hawkins voted in favor of the Reagan Administration’s proposals for reductions in the federal education budget during the 97th Congress.
New Democratic Members
The three new Democratic members of the House committee, all freshman, include: Frederick C. Boucher of Virginia, a former state senator; Frank Harrison of Pennsylvania, a former political-science professor; and Major R. Owens of New York, a former librarian.
The two new Republicans on the committee are also newly elected to the House. They are Steve Bartlett of Texas, a former city councilman from Dallas; and Ronald C. Packard of California, the former mayor of Carlsbad.
Democrats who no longer will be serving on the House committee include Representative William R. Ratchford of Connecticut and former Representative Peter A. Peyser of New York, who lost his re-election bid. The new Republican members are replacing the late Representative John M. Ashbrook of Ohio, and former Representatives Wendell Bailey of Missouri, Lawrence J. DeNardis of Connecticut, Arlen Erdahl of Minnesota, Millicent H. Fenwick of New Jersey, and W. Eugene Johnston 3d of North Carolina.
In other education-related committee assignments, the Senate Republican leadership approved the choice of Lowell P. Weicker--a strong supporter of education programs--to chair the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education. The subcommittee is responsible for determining preliminary funding levels for Education Department programs.
The post of chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Science, Technology, and Space--an increasingly important committee as the Congress prepares legislation to deal with the crisis in mathematics and science education--has been given to Republican Slade Gorton of Washington.
Because of a rule limiting the number of years a House member may sit on the House Budget Committee, two supporters of education funding have lost their seats on the committee, which is responsible for setting overall spending targets for the federal government.
They are Democrat Paul Simon of Illinois--who chairs the Subcommittee on Postsecondary Education--and David R. Obey, a Wisconsin Democrat.
And the Senate Budget Committee lost Democrat Ernest F. Hollings of South Carolina, another strong supporter of federal aid to education. The Senator will be replaced by Democrat Lawton Chiles of Florida.
