House Names Panel to Study Iranian Deal : Hamilton to Lead Committee of 9 Democrats, 6 GOP

House leaders announced a 15-member panel today--to be headed by Intelligence Committee Chairman Lee H. Hamilton (D-Ind.)--to consolidate that chamber’s investigation of the Iran- contra connection.

Hamilton will preside over the panel, which will include senior Democratic committee chairmen and a contingent of younger, aggressive conservative Republicans.

House Majority Leader Jim Wright (D-Tex.), who will become Speaker of the House in January, and Republican Leader Robert H. Michel of Illinois announced the nine Democrats and six Republicans they had chosen for the committee.

On Tuesday, Senate leaders picked a similar Watergate-style panel of 11 members to be headed by Democratic Sen. Daniel K. Inouye of Hawaii. (Profile, Page 19.)

Independent Action

Wright and Hamilton, 55, a House veteran of more than two decades, said they would try to coordinate their efforts with the Senate investigating committee, but stressed that the House has a responsibility to act independently.

Wright, in picking Democrats for the panel, chose committee chairmen and senior members of the party.

Rep. Dante B. Fascell (D-Fla), chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, was designated vice chairman of the investigating panel.

Meanwhile, Michel placed a mixture of senior Republicans and younger legislators on the committee.

Rep. Dick Cheney (R-Wyo.) was tapped as the ranking GOP member of the committee. Cheney, 45, was chief of staff for President Gerald R. Ford, and the congressman is now chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee.

Reagan Not on List

Hamilton and Cheney said it is unlikely that President Reagan will be asked to testify before the new committee.

Hamilton said such an appearance would be “exceedingly unusual . . . I would not see that as necessary at the present.” The same would be true of Vice President George Bush, Hamilton added.

Asked whether legislators might talk to the two men at the White House, Hamilton said, “We certainly want to have conversations” with anyone who could shed light on the transfer of Iranian arms sales profits to Nicaraguan contra rebels.

The other Democrats named to the committee are: Jack Brooks of Texas, chairman of the Government Operations Committee; Les Aspin of Wisconsin, chairman of the Armed Services Committee; Peter W. Rodino Jr. of New Jersey, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, which voted four articles of impeachment against President Richard M. Nixon during the Watergate scandal, and Louis Stokes of Ohio, incoming chairman of the Intelligence Committee. Also, Thomas S. Foley of Washington, the incoming majority leader; Edward P. Boland of Massachusetts, a former Intelligence Committee chairman, and Ed Jenkins of Georgia, a member of the Budget and Ways and Means committees, were named to fill out the Democratic slots.

Republicans named by Michel included William S. Broomfield of Michigan, the top GOP member of the Foreign Affairs Committee. But Michel also placed younger, outspoken conservatives on the committee, including Henry J. Hyde of Illinois, the top Republican on the Intelligence Committee; Jim Courter of New Jersey; Bill McCullom of Florida and Michael DeWine of Ohio.