838 HISTORY OF THE COMMITTEE ON SCIEN< I AND TECHNOLOGY 



to make preparations for the joint meeting. It being Thursday, the 

 Opponents of the rule and the bill were apprehensive lest some of the 

 "Tuesday to Thursday Club" Members (most of whom were in the 

 opposition camp) would leave the Capitol and return to their home 

 districts on Thursday afternoon. When 11:30 a.m. arrived and the 

 debate on the rule was still going on, the public galleries were cleared 

 for the Secret Service to send in their bomb-sniffing dogs and check 

 out the security of the galleries. This meant that there was a mass 

 rush as the occupants of the galleries elbowed their way into the 

 already overcrowded area outside the House floor. Just inside the 

 swinging door entrances, the leaders of the battle buttonholed Mem- 

 bers as they came in, tailoring their appeals to (it the philosophy and 

 reactions of different Members — even though they had been polled 

 several times in advance. 



According to Nancy Mathews, Ottinger's staff assistant who later 

 joined the committee staff: 



He was signaling to me how it was going as the vote time ran down — one 

 ahead, two down, all even, and after the 15 minutes were up there were lots of 

 changes. Then right at the end I have never seen such a discouraged look and I was 

 sure we had lost. All of a sudden he jumped about three feet in the air, and then I knew 

 we had won. 



At the end of the regulation 15 minutes allotted for a vote, the 

 lights above the Speaker's rostrum showed the incredibly close vote 

 of 190 for and 189 against the rule. The leadership and the whips on 

 both sides went to work in a frantic, last-minute effort to switch votes. 

 Three Republicans and two Democrats who had been registered against 

 the rule were persuaded to change their votes to support. 



"Please, Harley, we desperately need your vote against the rule. 

 Can't you switch?" Hechlcr implored Representative Harley O. 

 Staggers (Democrat of West Virginia). Staggers looked like he might 

 be agreeable to make a switch, but he asked Hechler: 



Won't this bill mean greater use of West Virginia coal? How can you vote 

 against that? 



Hechler responded : 



This bill would mean coal gasification plants in the West, using Western coal, 

 and would actually take a lot of business away from West Virginia. 



Staggers said: "That's good enough for me," and put his voting card 

 in the machine to make a decisive switch. Two others switched, and 

 four Democrats and two Republicans came in to cast their late votes 

 against the resolution. Finally, the Speaker pounded the gavel to cut 

 off further voting, after what seemed an agonizing wait. A cheer 

 arose from the opposition: they had carried the day by 193-192, thus 

 killing the bill for the year. 



