Congress Starts Quest to Regain Esteem : Government: A bipartisan committee seeks ways for legislative branch to work faster, at less cost, to change lawmakers’ reputation for gridlock.

Faced with low public esteem and a reputation for gridlock, Congress on Tuesday began a bipartisan campaign to reform itself and do its work faster, at less cost and with smaller staffs.

The Gargantuan task was assigned to a new Joint Committee on the Organization of Congress, composed equally of Democrats and Republicans. The new committee opened its hearings with testimony from leaders of both parties in the Senate and House.

“It’s time to be bold,” said Speaker Thomas S. Foley (D-Wash.), lead-off witness before the 24-member panel that plans a series of hearings before it makes recommendations for adoption by Congress this fall.

Foley said that he favors steps to make Capitol Hill more efficient, responsive and accountable to the public but cautioned against changes that would stifle debate or eliminate the conflict that is built into any legislature.

Despite the bipartisan support for the goals, however, sharp differences quickly emerged between Democrats and Republicans on how to achieve them.

Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.), for example, proposed term limits for all members of the House and Senate--a plan that is anathema to the Democratic leadership--and suggested that each session of Congress be limited to six months a year.

“Our Founding Father’s vision of a ‘citizen legislature’ where members would be able to serve in Congress, and then return to their communities to live under the laws they have written has given way to year-round meetings and hurried weekend plane trips to and from our states and districts,” Dole complained.

Sen. David L. Boren (D-Okla.), co-chairman of the committee, was equally daring in his opening proposals, suggesting that the number of committees and subcommittees be slashed from 300 to 50, with a corresponding reduction of 25% of congressional staff.

Other leaders echoed his call for a sweeping overhaul of the committee structure on Capitol Hill, along with streamlined budget and spending procedures and steps to improve the harshly criticized congressional policing of ethical violations.

At the hearing, House Minority Leader Robert H. Michel (R-Ill.) accused the Democratic majority of running roughshod over minority rights in the law-making process by denying Republicans a chance to offer amendments or shape legislation in committees.

“You (Democrats) write us in and out of the script as if making laws were something like making movies, in which entire scenes are left on the cutting-room floor,” Michel complained.

He also called for a major realignment of committees, reducing their number and limiting each member to service on only one or perhaps two of the panels.

Boren proposed a fundamental change in Senate and House policing of ethical lapses by members, advocating the creation of an independent ethics commission composed not of members but of outsiders. Foley termed it an idea worth examining in view of the harsh criticism of the present procedures in which members judge fellow members.

The Joint Committee, established last year, is only the third such body in history assigned to suggest fundamental changes in the way Congress does business. The hearing Tuesday marked the first time that members of the Senate and House leadership from both major parties presented testimony to any such panel.

“The fact that this institution was not and is not working has given rise to both immense frustration on the part of members of Congress and to outrage amongst the American public,” Boren said. “Last year’s election--including the drive toward term limits, the (Ross) Perot candidacy and the largest number of new members being elected to Congress in almost 50 years--showed how strongly the American people feel about the status quo here in Washington.”

Meantime, in an effort to show that gridlock can be broken, two committees moved swiftly to enact family leave and “motor voter” legislation that Democratic leaders hope to send to President Clinton early next month.

The Senate Labor Committee approved, 13 to 4, a bill to provide workers with up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for a newborn child or an ailing relative for workers of firms with more than 50 employees. A House Administration subcommittee on elections, acting by voice vote, endorsed a bill that would require states to simplify voter registration procedures, for example, by allowing persons to register when they get a driver’s license.