656 HisTORV OF THE COMMITTEE ON S< [EN( I AND TECHNOLOGY 



During his first few months in Congress, McCormack decided 

 fairly early that there might be other ways to get ahead than the 

 prescription by Gilbert and Sullivan to "polish up the handle of the 

 big front door." He had sonic fairly firm ideas on the need for the 

 United States to build an aggressive program for greater production 

 of energy. Along with Hechler, Fuqua, Davis, and several other 

 committee members, early in 1971, McCormack took an interest in a 

 resolution sponsored by Representative Richard H. Fulton (Democrat 

 of Tennessee) to establish a select committee "to conduct a full and 

 complete investigation of all aspects of the energy resources of the 

 United States." The House Committee on Rules, in a surprise move, 

 scheduled the Fulton resolution, H. Res. 155, for floor debate on May 26. 

 McCormack pitched in not only to help mobilize support for the 

 resolution but also put in a bid at the Speaker's office to be assigned 

 to the new committee if it were created. 



REPRESENTATIVE RICHARD H. FULTON SPONSORS ENERGY COMMITTEE 



The bitter fight over the Fulton resolution was both instructive 

 and to some extent disillusioning. Representative Chet Holifield 

 (Democrat of California), one of McCormack's mentors in the area of 

 nuclear energy, led the charge against the resolution because it invaded 

 the jurisdiction of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy. Other 

 committee chairmen soon raised objections, and thev were joined by 

 Members from Interior, Interstate and Foreign Commerce, Judiciary, 

 and others who felt their jurisdictions were being threatened. A sadly 

 disappointed Fulton told Hechler on the floor that emotion and 

 jurisdictional parochialism were going to win a big victory over logic. 

 The Fulton resolution was soundly defeated, 218 to 128. Reflecting on 

 the battle in 1978, McCormack remarked: 



There would have been one comprehensive committee. In retrospect, it is a major 

 tragedy for this country that legislation was not enacted. 



The bitter fight over the Fulton select committee sparked McCor- 

 mack to think through how Congress could get its energy act together 

 without the knee-jerk jurisdictional opposition which had doomed 

 Fulton's efforts. An idea began to take form: Why not get the Science 

 Committee itself to create a group which could do some pioneer work 

 on energy research and development without disturbing other com- 

 mittees? McCormack was at the time serving on the Subcommittee 

 on Science, Research and Development chaired by Davis who had 

 taken Daddario's place as head of that subcommittee. When he first 

 came to Congress, McCormack had ambitions of attaining the status 

 of Daddario, who had left at the end of 1970 after becoming recognized 

 as "Mr. Science" in the House of Representatives. The energv R. & D. 



