Victor Fazio: “I think in all the time I have been associated with the leadership on this side of the aisle when we were in the…”

“I think in all the time I have been associated with the leadership on this side of the aisle when we were in the majority, I can remember no instance in which an appointment to a committee was made that would have changed the committee ratio without the complete consultation of the minority leader and the Speaker. I know for a fact that whenever a special election would occur and changes would occur in the ratio of our memberships in the full body or on each committee individually, our Speakers, whether they were recent or in the distant past, consulted with the minority leader, and when it was required, we adjusted the number of members on the committee to conform to the ratio that we had reached agreement on at the beginning of that Congress. My personal problem with what happened with the appointment of the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Laughlin] was that we did not have that kind of consultation which occurred in every instance when we were in the majority.”