COMMITTEE ON RULES AND ADMINISTRATION HOWARD W. CANNON, Nevada ROBERT C. BYRD, West Virginia MARK O. HATFIELD, Oregon HARRISON A. WILLIAMS, JR., New Jersey JOHN TOWER, Texas RICHARD S. SCHWEIKER, Pennsylvania WILLIAM MCWHORTER COCHRANE, Staff Director GERALD W. SIEGEL, Chief Counsel THOMAS K. DECKER, Minority Staff Director DONALD F. MASSEY, Minority Counsel (II) This revised committee print has been prepared by the Committee on Rules and Administration to assist Senate committee members and staff personnel in arriving at their budget recommendations for the next committee funding year, and in preparing the supporting materials which will be required by this committee. The fiscal year for expenditure authorizations will be the 12-month period from March 1, 1981, through February 28, 1982. Pursuant to paragraph 9 of rule XXVI of the Standing Rules of the Senate, each Senate committee, excluding the Select Committee on Ethics, must report a resolution authorizing it to make expenditures to meet its expenses. The resolution must be reported to the Senate not later than January 31. The only exception to this requirement would be in the event that committee members are not designated by January 20, in which case committees would have 30 days from the actual designation date to report such resolutions. In 1980, the Senate agreed to fundamental changes in committee budgeting procedure recommended unanimously by the Rules Committee membership. These changes were enthusiastically supported by the committee in order to simplify committee and disbursing office accounting, enable the funding levels of committees to be easily compared, and enable the full Senate to review and approve the entire budget of its committees every year. This new procedure must be followed in preparing individual committee resolutions and supporting materials for the next fiscal year. In recent years, Senate standing committees, the Select Committee on Small Business, and the Special Committee on Aging were authorized by statutes at least 12 staff positions, $10,000 per Congress for general administrative expenses, and a $300 per Congress stationery allowance. These statutory authorizations were repealed by Senate Resolution 281 and section 112 of Public Law 96-304, 96th Congress (effective as of the close of Feb. 28, 1981). Beginning March 1, 1981, committees must budget in their annual resolution for all expenses anticipated for the fiscal year. Part I of this committee print provides Senate committees with detailed information on the requirements for expenditure authorizations for the funding year beginning March 1, 1981. Included are sample resolutions and budget forms, regulations in respect to procurement of consultants and the training of professional staff members, and rates of compensation for staffs of Senate committees which were effective October 1, 1980, pursuant to the Order of the President pro tempore of that date. Part II lists all funds authorized by the Senate from the 83d through the 96th Congresses for inquiries and investigations by Senate committees. Included are the annual and any supplemental expendi ture authorizations for Senate standing, select, and special committees, and any joint committees or commissions authorized to make expenditures from the contingent fund of the Senate. Budgets, supporting materials, and questionnaires.-(1) Committee budgets and questionnaires should be prepared on the standard forms obtainable from the Rules Committee offices; (2) an original and 30 legible duplicate copies of the budget, supporting letter, and questionnaire should be submitted to the Rules Committee at the earliest possible date; (3) the supporting letter should, when feasible, be signed jointly by the chairman and the ranking minority member of the committee; and (4) the questionnaire should be signed jointly by the chairman and ranking minority member or by the staff director and minority staff director of the committee, unless the minority does not concur with the information supplied therein. Consultants and training.-Any committee desiring authority and funds to hire consultants or to train its professional staff must include appropriate language therefor in its annual resolution. In respect to consultants for a committee, it should be duly noted that the selection of the same must be done jointly by the chairman and the ranking minority member thereof. Also, the Rules Committee must receive five days' advance notice of the intention to appoint in order to consider the request. Supplemental expenditure resolutions.-While not pertinent at this time, it is important for committees which may eventually seek supplemental funds to be aware of and to comply with the provision that a supplemental resolution must have an accompanying report expressing the reason the funds then requested had not been requested in the committee's annual resolution. This provision is fully explained in the chapter entitled "Supplemental Expenditure Authorizations". (See p. 7.) Select, special, and joint committees. In respect to select and special committees of the Senate, and joint committees financed by the Senate, the Committee on Rules and Administration has determined that the procedures and regulations set forth in this document will apply to such committees where appropriate and feasible. We remind all Senate committee chairmen that if the Senate organizes promptly, the 1981 annual expenditure-authorization resolutions must be reported no later than January 31, 1981. Committees are urged to submit their budgets, supporting materials, and questionnaires to the Rules Committee at the earliest possible date, since it is the Committee's intention to schedule these resolutions as one of its first orders of business. The cooperation of all involved Members and staff personnel in expediting this procedure will be deeply appreciated. If the Members or staff of the Committee on Rules and Administration can be of any assistance, please do not hesitate to call upon us. CLAIBORNE PELL, Chairman. MARK O. HATFIELD, Ranking Minority Member, Committee on Rules and Administration. |