DONNA M. BROTHER NICHOLAS G. CAVAROCCHI STAFF ASSISTANTS WILLIAM A. MARINELLI AMERICO S. MICONI DEMPSEY B. MIZELLE FREDERICK G. MOHRMAN JAMES A. MORRILL ENID MORRISON PETER J. MURPHY, Jr. HENRY A. NEIL, Jr. ROBERT C. NICHOLAS III BYRON S. NIELSON DAVID R. OLSON JOHN G. OSTHAUS FREDERICK F. PFLUGER JOHN G. PLASHAL EDWIN F. POWERS SAMUEL R. PRESTON CHARLES W. SNODGRASS HUNTER L. SPILLAN MICHAEL A. STEPHENS PAUL E. THOMSON DEREK J. VANDER SCHAAF SURVEYS AND INVESTIGATIONS C. R. ANDERSON, Chief DAVID A. SCHMIDT, Director JAMES B. HYLAND, Assistant Director ANTHONY J. GABRIEL, Assistant Director NOTE. The Surveys and Investigations supervisory staff is supplemented by selected personnel borrowed on a reimbursable basis for varying lengths of time from various agencies to staff up specific studies and investigations. The current average annual fulltime personnel equivalent is approximately 65. LEGISLATIVE BRANCH APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 1978 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1977. INTRODUCTION OF MEMBERS Mr. SHIPLEY. The committee will come to order. This marks the beginning of the hearings for fiscal year 1978 for the various legislative branch agencies under the jurisdiction of this subcommittee. We do have some new members of the committee: Mr. Benjamin of Indiana; Mr. Murtha of Pennsylvania; and Mr. Traxler of Michigan. On the minority side Mr. Coughlin and Mr. Armstrong have exchanged places in rank, and the size of the subcommittee has decreased. I think most of the subcommittee chairmen agreed that when they commenced their hearings they would explain, and have it made a part of the record, that many times the people and the press who attend the hearings and those in the various agencies who appear before various subcommittees may wonder why we do not have a full complement of members present. It is very simple. It is a matter of mathematics. Almost all of us serve on two subcommittees, and many on three subcommittees, and we have to spread ourselves as thinly as we possible can. Mr. Armstrong, I want to commend you for seeking this as your ranking committee. Mr. Coughlin, of course, has done a wonderful job in the past as ranking minority member and has been great to work with. We are glad you will continue as a member of the subcommittee. Mr. Benjamin will be here shortly. I asked him why he wanted to serve on the subcommittee, and he said he wanted to know what was going on in Congress. And since he is a freshman, I think it is great that he did get on this subcommittee. I know I have found out a great deal I did not know before I became a member of the subcommittee how much money we are spending, where it was going, and for what purposes. We will get into more detail as we go into the budget details. Of course, we are also glad to have some of the same old troops with us again: Mr. Giaimo, Mr. McFall, and Mr. Cederberg. Of course, Mr. Mahon will be with us from time to time. LEGISLATIVE BRANCH BUDGET The budget we are going to start considering this morning totals a little over $897 million. This figure excludes the Senate items that we leave for that body to consider at the proper time. I will note that the Senate items, including two items jurisdictionally under the Architect of the Capitol, total about $154 million. This is a lot of money. We have been hearing a lot through the press about the billion(1) dollar budget that Congress and the legislative branch have, and at times it is a little difficult to defend, but many times it is because the various news media that do comment or write on it don't go into enough detail. They simply lump off $1 billion for the legislative branch. As we go through the hearings this year I will be asking each agency to prepare a breakdown to explain where some of this money does go that is not directly attributable to the U.S. Congress-the House of Representatives or the U.S. Senate. For example, in the President's budget there are a number of independent agencies assigned to the legislative branch that are not part of our operation such as the U.S. Tax Court, the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, and the temporary Commission on Financial Oversight of the District of Columbia. The budget proposals for these three agencies total over $11 million. There are two other areas that ally very heavily to the overall amount, and those are the Library of Congress where it amounts to over $173 million, and, of course, the General Accounting Office, Mr. Staats, is approximately $167.5 million. I think you said at one time that approximately onethird of your work is directly in support of the Congress. If that changes, of course, we would like to know that. Out of the total Library of Congress appropriation request only $22.8 million is for the congressional research service, and that is, of course, exclusively for the use of the Congress. So in reality the proposed budget for the operation of the Congress during 1978, including the Senate items, would be between $700 million and $800 million. SUMMARY OF LEGISLATIVE BRANCH BUDGET REQUESTS At this point, I think we will insert in the record the comparative statements appearing on pages II through VIII of the subcommittee print. [The comparative statement referred to follows:] COMPARATIVE STATEMENT OF NEW BUDGET (OBLIGATIONAL) AUTHORITY FOR 1977 AND THE BUDGET ESTIMATES FOR 1978 Item JExcludes Senate items and items under Architect of the Capitol for the Senate] |