596 HISTORY OF THE COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 



bill was finally debated in the House on September 19, not a soul 

 stood up to oppose the bill. After explanatory speeches by de la 

 Garza, Brown, Thornton, and several others, the House passed the 

 Brown bill by a voice vote. 



SEEKING THE FORMULA FOR COMPROMISE 



But Congress had less than a month to go before adjournment, 

 and everybody and his brother had his favorite bill struggling to 

 survive the legislative logjam. Some tough roadblocks remained. 

 The Senate wanted to enact an economic development program and 

 place it in the Commerce Department, which of course the House 

 Agriculture Committee strongly opposed. Luckily, Texas Senator 

 Lloyd Bentsen was handling the bill in the Senate. That made it 

 easier for Teague to persuade him that if Texas really wanted a guayule 

 bill, they had better look at the clock and realize that a conference 

 committee which included the House and Senate Public Works, 

 Agriculture, and Science Committees would be almost impossible to 

 convene that late in the session. Brown also enlisted the help of 

 Science Committee member Robert A. Roe (Democrat of New Jersey), 

 chairman of the House Public Works Subcommittee on Economic 

 Development, to assist in speeding the bill forward. 



Everybody was in a mood to move the bill, but it took a long 

 time before the formula of compromise was developed. After strenuous 

 efforts, it was finally concluded that the only solution was to set up 

 a Joint Commission with representatives of the Agriculture and 

 Commerce Departments, National Science Foundation, and Bureau of 

 Indian Affairs to set the policies for pulling together the administration 

 of the program. Only in this way could the jurisdictional interests 

 of all parties be protected. Brown hovered in the wings as this com- 

 munal marriage was being consummated. Friday the 13th proved a 

 lucky dav for Brown, with the House voicing its blessing on October 

 13- The Senate approved the final version of the bill only a few hours 

 before Congress raced to the finish line of its session on October 14. 



victory! 



When the President signed the bill on November 4, Brown 

 commented: 



This legislation will provide a major economic force for large areas of the South- 

 west that have been previously unable to establish a local agriculture industry. 

 We will bring modern technology to bear on a product known to the Aztecs five 

 hundred years ago. 



Did Congressman Brown rest after his victory? At year's end in 

 1978 he was very busy urging heads of all the departments and agencies 



