Delays Foment Rebellion : Congress’ Last Hours Not Ranked as Finest

The mood on Capitol Hill this week was summed up on little red-and-white buttons that began to appear on the lapels of hundreds of weary lawmakers, congressional staff and reporters: “Free the 99th Congress.”

The legislative session stretched two weeks past its scheduled end, wreaking havoc with reelection campaign plans that had been laid months before and fraying nerves on all sides. At least one House member was forced to campaign for reelection from a Capitol phone booth.

When the final hours of the 99th Congress finally approached, they were not proud ones. Most government operations were shut down Friday for lack of funding. The Senate was paralyzed in simultaneous filibusters on two bills. And, somewhere in the middle of all this, retiring Sen. Charles McC. Mathias Jr. (R-Md.) was pleading that Maryland beaten biscuits be put on the Senate Restaurant menu as a sort of going-away gift to him.

Over in the House, rebellion was brewing. Rep. Paul B. Henry (R-Mich.) went so far as to accuse the Senate of “parliamentary terrorism.”

“It is the first time . . . since the War of 1812 that we’ve had political hostages in the nation’s Capitol,” he said. “We must not allow these terrorists to continue their infamy, nor allow them to claim civil immunity for their ungoverned conduct.”

Those Reelection Blues

Rep. Trent Lott (R-Miss.), blaming the House’s Democratic leadership, spelled out his complaints in a seven-stanza poem. One verse went: “We’re procrastinating, yes, procrastinating, on just how to close this silly place; it’s fall, we’re fast deflating all the egos that have a campaign race.”

As Lott suggested, the delay was particularly tough on those who face fierce reelection battles. With the election two weeks away, many were shuttling back and forth between home-state campaign appearances and the nation’s business on the House and Senate floors.

Both Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.) and Rep. Ed Zschau of Los Altos, his Republican challenger, had to cancel numerous speeches and fund-raisers. “It has been horrible,” said Ron Smith, Zschau’s campaign manager. “We’ve had at least 10 campaign days wiped out this fall.”

Near the bitter end of the congressional session, which is expected today, it got harder and harder to round up lawmakers for votes. Sen. Steven D. Symms (R-Ida.), his political survival at stake, packed up and headed west, serving notice that his fellow senators should not expect to see him again this year unless it was absolutely urgent.

Troubles Reaching Out

Rep. Joe L. Barton (R-Tex.), by contrast, decided that long-distance was the next best thing to being there. From a wooden telephone booth in the Capitol, he spoke at fund-raisers and at an anti-abortion rally in Corsicana and even debated his opponent. But he acknowledged that stumping by pay phone has its drawbacks.

“You’re addressing 300 or 400 people and you’re looking at this wall full of graffiti,” he said.

Meanwhile, his wife was in Texas, trying to fill in for him where she could.

“Janet’s getting a lot more exposure and name identification than I am,” he said of her. “I hope she doesn’t decide to run against me in 1988.”

Contributing to this story were staff writers John Balzar and Keith Love in Los Angeles.