He is a member of the Budget and Appropriations Committee and the chair of that committee's Labor Subcommittee.

"The board currently operates with total independence from the Federal Government," Mr. Cavazos told the House Education and Labor Subcommittee on Postsecondary Education.

An active participant in the El Paso Libraries Bi-National Literacy Summit, at Reyes' request the event was headlined by Congressman Ruben Hinojosa, in his role as Chairman of the House Education and Labor Subcommittee on Higher Education, Lifelong Learning, and Competitiveness.

Mr. Metzenbaum, who is chairman of the Labor Subcommittee of the Labor and Human Resources Committee, said he would convene a hearing of his subcommittee in September to consider the safety of aspartame.

The letter was circulated by Senator Howard M. Metzenbaum, an Ohio Democrat who heads the Labor Subcommittee of the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee.

"You can't have the same set of rules for the Defense Department as for the E.E.O.C.," Mr. Thomas told the House Education and Labor Subcommittee on Employment Opportunities.

"The President is losing some of his soldiers on this one," said Representative Pat Williams, a Montana Democrat who is chairman of the House Education and Labor Subcommittee on Labor-Management Relations.

LEAD: Legislation to raise the Federal minimum wage from $3.35 an hour to $4.65 over the next three years has won approval from the House Education and Labor Subcommittee on Labor Standards.

An Abreviated Process' Sy Holzman, staff director of the House Education and Labor Subcommittee on Health and Safety, was skeptical, saying: "The goal they had in mind was the right one.

"It is important that on the national level we do not over-promise or make commitments we can't keep," said Representative Susan Molinari of Staten Island, the ranking Republican on the House Education and Labor Subcommittee on Human Resources.