\ NEW NAM! AND EXPANDED AUTHORITY FOR Till COMH 



717 



The next day ar the Democratic caucus, Hechler and McCormack 

 sat down together to chat about the future. McCormack indicated 

 once again that the energy crisis demanded a unified approach among 

 the interrelated sources of energy, and it simply did not make sense 

 to proceed in a divided fashion as two subcommittees would perforce 

 do. McCormack suggested that a fully independent sphere of action 

 could logically be carved out through Hechler being named chairman 

 of a task force on coal, oil and natural gas which would be coordinated 

 through an overall Energy Subcommittee such as McCormack had 

 chaired in 1973 and 1974. Hechler responded: "No. But to insure that 

 our subcommittees work together, I suggest that you serve on my 

 subcommittee and I serve on yours." This was done. 



NAMING THE ENERGY SUBCOMMITTEES 



The preliminary agreements reached on the boat trip were quickly 

 and painlessly ratified when the Democratic caucus met at the opening 

 of the 94th Congress in January 1975, followed by an organization 

 meeting of the full committee. McCormack named his energy sub- 

 committee first, calling it "Energy Research, Development and 

 Demonstration," with jurisdiction over solar, geothermal and other 

 advanced energy systems, energy conservation and utilization, and 

 special oversight over nuclear energy R. & D. It was an attractive and 

 challenging field, and 23 Members bid for McCormack's subcommittee 

 as against only 15 for Hechler's. The naming of the subcommittee 

 set off the first of a series of polite arguments between the two sub- 

 committee chairmen. Hechler contended that the title of McCormack's 

 subcommittee inferred that it covered the entire energy field, and that 

 the title should be more explicit and not all-encompassing. McCormack 

 countered that each Member had the ri^ht to name his own sub- 

 committee title, and Hechler had perfect freedom to do what he 

 pleased. Although he personally preferred a shorter title, Hechler 

 then named his subcommittee "Energy Research, Development and 

 Demonstration (Fossil Fuels)." The other subcommittees were: 



Space science and applications (Fuqua). 



Science, research and technology (Symington). 



Domestic and international scientific planning and analysis (Roe, succeeded by 

 Thornton). 



Environment and the atmosphere (Brown). 



Aviation and transportation research and development (Milford). 



Ad hoc Subcommittee on Special Studies, Investigations, and Oversight (Teague) 

 established in 1976. 



NUCLEAR R. & D. JURISDICTION" 



Additional jurisdiction over nuclear research and development 

 was added to the Science Committee in 1977 with the abolition of 



35-120 



