The introduction of new screen formats was put off for a quarter century, and color, though utilized over the next two decades for special productions, also did not become a norm until the 1950s.

Mr Warner's proposal has attracted the support of two other Republicans, Maine's Susan Collins and Minnesota's Norm Coleman, and other Republicans have made their unhappiness felt.

'we are looking at it through a prism of families today which consist of one or two children but if we look back a few years having a lot of children was the norm'.