1024 HISTORY OF THE COMMITTI I ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 



The minority, after many years of agitation, finally got their first 

 staff member, Richard E. Beeman in 1968. Not until 1971 did they 

 have a "minority unit" including more than one designated staff 

 member. By 1971, when Teague became chairman, the Republicans 

 had only two professionals and one secretary to call their own 



Teague strongly resisted the concept of a minority staff. He 

 frequently called attention to the fact that his executive director, 

 Jack Swigert, had confessed to being a Republican, and Teague had 

 warned Swigert he would fire him if he ever repeated that fact — 

 because Teague stressed the staff should be nonpartisan and serve all 

 members, Republicans and Democrats alike. The Republicans would 

 not accept that argument, and continued to claw away, bolstered by 

 strong encouragement from Republicans everywhere. The new rules of 

 the House adopted in January 1975, authorized the ranking minority 

 member of up to six subcommittees "to appoint one staff person who 

 shall serve at the pleasure of the ranking minority party member." 

 The House rules also authorized a total of six professional and four 

 clerical personnel, as statutory members of the standing committee 

 staff, to be assigned to the minority when requested by a majority of 

 the minority members. The minority on the committee lost no time in 

 attempting to implement these new rules and managed eventually to 

 do so after some heated arguments over "qualifications." Paul Vander 

 Myde became the first officially designated minority staff director in 

 1977. 



In 1976, Teague established the Ad Hoc Subcommittee on Special 

 Studies, Investigations and Oversight and hired Dr. Robert B. Dilla- 

 way as its staff director. Only one study was published, a report on 

 EPA's Community Health and Environmental Surveillance System 

 (CHESS). A large amount of the work on this study was actually 

 done by the Brown Subcommittee on the Environment and the Atmo- 

 sphere, with assistance from the Congressional Research Service of the 

 Library of Congress. The reaction to Dr. Dillaway's work was mixed, 

 there was a great deal of argument concerning the overlap of his work 

 with the existing subcommittees, and he left the committee staff 

 in 1977. Several unpublished studies on NASA's aeronautical R. & T. 

 and NASA's energy R. & D. proved useful. 



Teague also took the initiative to have the committee conduct 

 research and help coordinate programs to aid the handicapped. Early 

 in 1976. Sherman Roodzant was placed in charge of this special over- 

 sight program. Roodzant was assisted by John G. Clements, who 

 succeeded him in 1979. A panel of experts studied the problems of the 

 handicapped in 1977, followed by hearings chaired by Brown and 



