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Civil rights and race relations materials, 1957-1964

"Report To The Hawkeye State" by Senator Jack Miller Page 1

REPORT TO THE HAWKEYE STATE
BY
U.S. SENATOR JACK MILLER
2327 New Senate Office Building, Washington 25, D. C.
[photo]

64-4 CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964
Almost a year ago, following the Birmingham church bombing, the Administration gave its leaders in the House and Senate the "go ahead" signal for civil rights legislation. Prior to this time, numerous bills on the subject had been introduced and referred to committee, where they had received no action. It was decided by the Democratic leadership, which controls the House by a 3-2 margin and the Senater by 2-1, that the House would act first. After hearings, the House Judiciary Committee rather hurriedly put together into one package an omnibus bill which really consisted of eight major bills and reported the bill to the House on November 20. After further hearings before the House Rules Committee (which is the "sifting committee" of the House), it was debated for 64 hours along with 155 amendments (of which 34 were adopted) and passed by the House on February 10 by a vote of 290-130. It was transmitted to the Senate the same date.
On February 26, the Senate voted 54-37 to put the bill directly on the calendar, thus bypassing the Judiciary Committee. This action was taken in line with a seldom-used rule of the Senate because of the failure of the Judiciary Committee (Chairman Eastland of Mississippi) in times past to act on civil rights bills. The following day, the leadership insisted on calling up the Cotton-Wheat bill, which occupied the Senate's time until its passage on Friday, March 6. On Monday, March 9, motion was made to take up the civil rights bill, and this was debated until March 26, at which time the Senate voted to do so.
On June 10, after 59 days of debate, the Senate by a vote of 71-29 invoked cloture. (27 of the 33 Republicans voted "aye," including both Iowa senators.) All 100 senators being present, 67 (two-thirds) were required. This was the first time debate had ever been choked off on a civil rights bill and the second time in 36 years that cloture on any kind of bill had been invoked.
Once cloture is invoked, each Senator has but one hour to speak on the bill and all amendments pending thereto. Over 500 amendments were pending, of which more than 100 were called up. After 8 days, the Senate passed the bill on Friday, June 26, by a vote of 73-27.
I have set forth the above chronology so that you would not retain the idea (which some superficial columnists have sought to convey) that action by the Senate was unduly delayed. Although 52 days of debate was devoted to the House-passed bill, only a week was available for discussion of the substitute bill introduced as an amendment on June 5 under the names of the bipartisan leadership (Mansfield-Humphrey, Dirksen-Kuchel). The substitute contained over 70 amendments to the House bill, and a week of debate thereon was minimal. It took over two months of bipartisan work, research, drafting, redrafting, and conferences on the part of many members of the Senate and their staffs to come up with the substitute bill; and this would have been necessary whether or not any debate on the Senate floor had been going on. Twelve of my own amendments were reflected in the substitute, and four others were adopted following cloture. The final bill, passed by the Senate, contains over 80 amendments to the house-passed bill. These amendments do not diminish the rights covered by the bill, nor do they diminish the adequacy of the remedies to secure these rights. However, in the judgment of most of us, they transformed the House bill into a piece of reasonably sound and workable legislation.
The bill contains eleven separate titles, and a brief explanation of the major ones is set forth below:
TITLE I - VOTING RIGHTS
This relates to federal elections (those for President and Vice President, presidential elector, and members of the Senate and House). Doubt exists over whether federal law can constitutionally be extended to state and local elections, and the bill does not relate to them.
Not much change from the Civil Rights Act of 1957 under which the Attorney General was empowered to bring suits in the federal district courts to enforce the rights of citizens to vote. Added is a provision for a three-judge court (with appeal directly to the Supreme Court) where a "pattern of discrimination" is believe to exist; and a provision that where a state has a literacy test in determining voter eligibility, evidence of completion of the sixth grade will furnish a rebuttable presumption of literacy. States can still have literacy tests, but they must be uniformly and fairly administered.

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REPORT TO THE HAWKEYE STATE BY U.S. SENATOR JACK MILLER 2327 New Senate Office Building, Washington 25, D. C. [photo] 64-4 CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964 Almost a year ago, following the Birmingham church bombing, the Administration gave its leaders in the House and Senate the "go ahead" signal for civil rights legislation. Prior to this time, numerous bills on the subject had been introduced and referred to committee, where they had received no action. It was decided by the Democratic leadership, which controls the House by a 3-2 margin and the Senater by 2-1, that the House would act first. After hearings, the House Judiciary Committee rather hurriedly put together into one package an omnibus bill which really consisted of eight major bills and reported the bill to the House on November 20. After further hearings before the House Rules Committee (which is the "sifting committee" of the House), it was debated for 64 hours along with 155 amendments (of which 34 were adopted) and passed by the House on February 10 by a vote of 290-130. It was transmitted to the Senate the same date. On February 26, the Senate voted 54-37 to put the bill directly on the calendar, thus bypassing the Judiciary Committee. This action was taken in line with a seldom-used rule of the Senate because of the failure of the Judiciary Committee (Chairman Eastland of Mississippi) in times past to act on civil rights bills. The following day, the leadership insisted on calling up the Cotton-Wheat bill, which occupied the Senate's time until its passage on Friday, March 6. On Monday, March 9, motion was made to take up the civil rights bill, and this was debated until March 26, at which time the Senate voted to do so. On June 10, after 59 days of debate, the Senate by a vote of 71-29 invoked cloture. (27 of the 33 Republicans voted "aye," including both Iowa senators.) All 100 senators being present, 67 (two-thirds) were required. This was the first time debate had ever been choked off on a civil rights bill and the second time in 36 years that cloture on any kind of bill had been invoked. Once cloture is invoked, each Senator has but one hour to speak on the bill and all amendments pending thereto. Over 500 amendments were pending, of which more than 100 were called up. After 8 days, the Senate passed the bill on Friday, June 26, by a vote of 73-27. I have set forth the above chronology so that you would not retain the idea (which some superficial columnists have sought to convey) that action by the Senate was unduly delayed. Although 52 days of debate was devoted to the House-passed bill, only a week was available for discussion of the substitute bill introduced as an amendment on June 5 under the names of the bipartisan leadership (Mansfield-Humphrey, Dirksen-Kuchel). The substitute contained over 70 amendments to the House bill, and a week of debate thereon was minimal. It took over two months of bipartisan work, research, drafting, redrafting, and conferences on the part of many members of the Senate and their staffs to come up with the substitute bill; and this would have been necessary whether or not any debate on the Senate floor had been going on. Twelve of my own amendments were reflected in the substitute, and four others were adopted following cloture. The final bill, passed by the Senate, contains over 80 amendments to the house-passed bill. These amendments do not diminish the rights covered by the bill, nor do they diminish the adequacy of the remedies to secure these rights. However, in the judgment of most of us, they transformed the House bill into a piece of reasonably sound and workable legislation. The bill contains eleven separate titles, and a brief explanation of the major ones is set forth below: TITLE I - VOTING RIGHTS This relates to federal elections (those for President and Vice President, presidential elector, and members of the Senate and House). Doubt exists over whether federal law can constitutionally be extended to state and local elections, and the bill does not relate to them. Not much change from the Civil Rights Act of 1957 under which the Attorney General was empowered to bring suits in the federal district courts to enforce the rights of citizens to vote. Added is a provision for a three-judge court (with appeal directly to the Supreme Court) where a "pattern of discrimination" is believe to exist; and a provision that where a state has a literacy test in determining voter eligibility, evidence of completion of the sixth grade will furnish a rebuttable presumption of literacy. States can still have literacy tests, but they must be uniformly and fairly administered.