
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, July 3, 1993                   TAG: 9309020326
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

IN CONGRESS

INTERNAL reform, or at least the promise of it, continues to worm its way through Congress.

A recent survey suggests members themselves believe that reform of the budget process ought to be the No. 1 priority, followed by committee structure and assignments.

Support for congressional reform actually seems to be growing in that tangled and cumbersome body, and some good ideas are being put forward. A reform committee is expected to release its recommendations in September.

On the budget process, for example, a large majority of Congress members who responded to the Congressional Research survey favored doing away with one of the current three steps - budget resolution, authorizations and appropriations. There was a show of support, too, for biennial budgeting.

According to a new study by two think-tank political scientists in Washington, Thomas Mann and Norman J. Ornstein, an even more urgently needed reform is to reduce the size of committees and the number of subcommittees, and to limit committee assignments.

All good ideas. But all the talk notwithstanding, it's hard to know which will be the tougher to repair: Congress or the public's perception of it.

by CNB