Senate Approves TV, Radio Coverage of Proceedings

The Senate, nervously and belatedly edging its way into the television era, voted Thursday to allow trial television and radio coverage of its proceedings.

Under the painstakingly drafted resolution--passed 67 to 21--radio coverage of the Senate will begin almost immediately, with live television broadcasts following on June 1. In late July, the Senate will evaluate the experiment and decide whether to allow cameras and microphones to become permanent fixtures in the Senate chamber.

The test would be accompanied by a series of new Senate rules aimed at limiting senators’ ability to dominate days of televised proceedings with filibusters. Nonetheless, opponents warned that the television cameras could provide an opportunity for endless grandstanding in an already inefficient Senate.

‘In for Great Misery’

“Those of us who find statesmanship is all too scarce now will find it even more scarce on television,” Sen. Russell B. Long (D-La.) said. Added Sen. J. Bennett Johnston, a fellow Louisiana Democrat: “We are letting ourselves in for great misery.”

However, Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) said that the issue amounts to “simple justice” and accused the Senate of being “so wrapped up in its own cocoon of ancient rules that it cannot face the future.”

Other supporters argued that public scrutiny might force discipline on a Senate that routinely bogs down when individual senators try to block votes or add unrelated matters to pending legislation.

“I’m hopeful that with TV in the Senate, we will be able to conduct our affairs better than we have in the past,” Sen. Howard M. Metzenbaum (D-Ohio) said.

Sen. Alan K. Simpson (R-Wyo.), who originally opposed the idea, said he became convinced that television “would let the American people find out how we really do our business or, more importantly, how we don’t do our business. . . . They would begin to write: ‘I saw you. What were you doing?’ ”

Decade of Debate

The overwhelming vote capped more than a decade of debate on the issue. Both California senators, Democrat Alan Cranston and Republican Pete Wilson, voted with the majority in favor of the resolution.

The House began allowing television coverage of its proceedings in 1979. C-SPAN, the nonprofit Cable Satellite Public Affairs Network owned by an association of cable firms, already broadcasts all House proceedings and has a second channel ready to carry Senate debates.

The Senate’s decision to allow television was complicated because it does not have the House’s strict rules limiting the amount of time and variety of subjects its members may debate.

Moreover, many opponents have noted that the Senate is considered a launching pad for presidential bids--four of the last eight presidents served in the Senate--and have expressed concern that ambitious senators will use the broadcasts to further their political goals.

Senate leaders had hoped to use television as a tool to bring discipline to Senate proceedings. The resolution allowing television contains a provision, for example, that would dramatically shorten the time senators may continue to talk after a vote to cut off a filibuster.