    [Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 104th Congress]
    [104th Congress]
    [House Document 103-342]
    [Joint and Select Committees]
    [Pages 855-865]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 855]]

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                           JOINT AND SELECT COMMITTEES

                               SERVICES TO MEMBERS

                                  HOUSE OFFICES

    ========================================================================

    [[Page 857]]

                         EARLY ORGANIZATION OF THE HOUSE

                           JOINT AND SELECT COMMITTEES

                                   __________

                                Joint Committees

    Sec. 983. Joint Economic Committee.

      The Joint  Economic
    Committee is composed of 10 members of the Senate and 10 members of the
    House. The 10 Representatives are appointed by the Speaker: six from the
    majority and four from the minority. The committee conducts a continuing
    study of matters relating to the Economic Report made by the President
    and studies means of promoting the national policy on employment as
    outlined in the Employment Act of 1946 (15 U.S.C. 1021). The committee
    is required to file, not later than March 1 of each year, a report with
    the Senate and the House containing its findings and recommendations on
    each of the main recommendations made by the President in the Economic
    Report. It is authorized to hold hearings and make other reports to the
    Congress and to issue a monthly publication on economic conditions (15
    U.S.C. 1024-1025). The Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act of 1978
    (sec. 302, P.L. 95-523) requires the Joint Committee to review and
    analyze the short-term and medium-term goals set forth in the Economic
    Report and to hold hearings on the Report to hear testimony from Members
    of Congress and other groups. Within 30 days after receipt of the Report
    by the Congress, standing committees with legislative jurisdiction and
    joint committees may submit reports to the joint committee with views
    and recommendations on matters within their jurisdiction. On or before
    each March 15, a majority of the members of the joint committee are
    required to submit a report to the Senate and House Budget Committees,
    including findings, recommendations, and appropriate analyses with
    respect to each of the short-term and medium-term goals set forth in the
    Economic Report.

    [[Page 858]]
    to the Committee on Ways and Means, and, in its discretion, directly to
    the House (26 U.S.C. 8001-8023).

    Sec. 984. Joint Committee on Internal Revenue
    Taxation.

      The Joint  Committee on Internal Revenue Taxation is composed of five
    members of the Senate and five members of the House. The House members,
    three from the majority and two from the minority, are chosen by the
    Committee on Ways and Means from the membership of that committee. The
    Joint Committee investigates the operation and effects of the Federal
    system of internal revenue taxation. It is authorized to hold hearings
    at times and places it deems advisable, has subpoena powers, and reports

    Sec. 985. Joint Committee of Congress on the
    Library.

      The Joint  Committee of Congress on the Library is composed of five
    members of the Senate and five members of the House. The Chairman of the
    Committee on House Oversight is a member and four other members of that
    committee are elected by House resolution. The committee considers
    proposals concerning the management and expansion of the Library of
    Congress, the development and maintenance of the Botanic Gardens, the
    receipt of gifts for the benefit of the Library, and certain matters
    relating to placing of statues and other works of art in the Capitol (2
    U.S.C. 132b).

    Sec. 986. Joint Committee on Printing.

      The House  elects four
    members of the Committee on House Oversight to serve with the chairman
    of that committee on the Joint Committee on Printing, together with the
    chairman and four other members of the Senate Committee on Rules and
    Administration (44 U.S.C. 101). A member of the joint committee who is
    reelected to the succeeding Congress continues to serve until a
    successor is chosen, and a projected vacancy may be filled on the last
    day of a Congress by appointment (44 U.S.C. 102). The committee adopts
    and employs measures necessary to remedy inefficiencies or waste in the
    public printing, binding, and distribution of Government publications.
    It has control of the arrangement and style of the Congressional Record
    (44 U.S.C. 901-910). The Joint Committee on Printing is authorized and
    directed to provide for printing in the Daily Record the legislative
    program for the day, together with a list of congressional committee
    meetings and hearings, and the place of meeting and subject matter; and
    to cause a brief resume of congressional activities for the previous day
    to be incorporated in the Record, together with an index of its
    contents. Such data shall be prepared under the supervision of the
    Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House of Representatives,
    respectively.

                                Select Committees

    [[Page 859]]

      The 103d Congress did not re-establish Select Committees on Hunger, on
    Children, Youth, and Families, on Narcotics Abuse and Control, or on
    Aging (formerly established in standing rule X). As of the date of the
    preface to this edition, the 104th Congress has established no select
    committee other than the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
    (rule XLVIII).

                               SERVICES TO MEMBERS

                                  HOUSE OFFICES

                                   __________

    <> Members may send through the mails, under
    their frank, certain documents and materials as provided by 39 U.S.C.
    3210 et seq., subject to the limitations prescribed in rule XLVI, supra.

    <> Rooms in the office buildings of
    the House of Representatives are assigned to Members pursuant to the law
    of May 28, 1908 (40 U.S.C. 177-184) and pursuant to regulations of the
    House Office Building Commission (see regulations promulgated June 23,
    1990, p. ----).

    <> The preparation,
    utilization, and distribution (to committees and members) of reports by
    the General Accounting Office, and its authority to assign its employees
    to duty with congressional committees, are regulated by the Legislative
    Reorganization Act of 1970, sections 231-236 (84 Stat. 1140; 31 U.S.C.
    1172-1176).

    <> Committees may, with the
    approval of the Committee on House Oversight, procure the temporary or
    intermittent services of consultants and obtain specialized training for
    professional staff, subject to expense resolutions, under the
    Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970, sections 303 and 304 (84 Stat.
    1140; 2 U.S.C. 72a (i) and (j)).

                               Services to Members

    <> The organization of
    the Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress and its
    responsibilities to assist Members and committees were provided in the
    Legislative Reorganization Acts of 1946 and 1970 (60 Stat. 836; 84 Stat.
    1140; 2 U.S.C. 166).

    [[Page 860]]

    <> The Office of the Legislative
    Counsel of the House of Representatives evolved from a single
    Legislative Drafting Service established for the Congress by the Act of
    February 24, 1919 (40 Stat. 1057, 1141). The currently applicable
    provisions of law setting forth the purpose and functions of the Office
    and providing for its administration are contained in title V of the
    Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970 (P.L. 91-510; 2 U.S.C 281 et
    seq.) as amended by the Legislative Branch Appropriation Act, 1972 (P.L.
    92-51). As stated in section 502 of such title V, the purpose of the
    Office is to advise and assist the House of Representatives, and its
    committees and Members, in the achievement of a clear, faithful, and
    coherent expression of legislative policies.

    <> The Office of the Law Revision
    Counsel, to develop a codification of the laws of the United States, was
    authorized by the Committee Reform Amendments of 1974, section 205 (H.
    Res. 988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470, as made permanent law by
    P.L. 93-544 (2 U.S.C. 285)).

    <> The Office of Technology
    Assessment, to assist the Congress in indicating the beneficial and
    adverse impacts of the application of technology, was authorized by the
    Technology Assessment Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 472 et seq.).

    <> A Parliamentarian has
    been appointed by the Speaker in every Congress since 1927. In the 95th
    Congress the House formally and permanently established an Office of the
    Parliamentarian to be managed, supervised, and administered by a non-
    partisan Parliamentarian appointed by the Speaker (H. Res. 502, Apr. 20,
    1977, p. 11415, made permanent law by sec. 115 of P.L. 95-94; see 2
    U.S.C. 287 et seq.). The compilation and preparation of the precedents
    of the House of Representatives were authorized by section 208 of the
    Committee Reform Amendments of 1974 (H. Res. 988, 93d Cong., Oct. 8,
    1974, p. 34470, made permanent law by P.L. 93-554, 2 U.S.C. 28a), and
    the printing and distribution of the precedents were authorized by
    Public Law 94-551 (2 U.S.C. 28b-e). See also 2 U.S.C. 28, 29.

    <> An Office for the
    Bicentennial was established in the 97th Congress as a new clause 10 of
    rule I (H. Res. 621, Dec. 17, 1982, p. 31951). The Office coordinated
    the planning of the commemoration of the two-hundredth anniversary of
    the House of Representatives. The management, supervision, and
    administration of the Office is under the direction of the Speaker and
    is staffed by a professional historian to be appointed by the Speaker on
    a non-partisan basis. The Office was removed from the standing rules and
    established by law in P.L. 98-367. In the 101st Congress, an Office of
    the Historian of the House of Representatives was established in clause
    10 of rule I (H. Res. 5, Jan. 3, 1989, p. 72).

    [[Page 861]]

                                  House Offices

    Sec. 996b. Office of Floor Assistants.

      At its  organization
    the 104th Congress established an office to assist the Speaker in the
    management of legislative activity on the floor of the House in the
    following terms:

              ``There is established in the House of Representatives an

            office to be known as the Speaker's Office for Legislative Floor

            Activities. The Speaker shall appoint and set the annual rate of

            pay for employees of the Office. The Office shall have the

            responsibility of assisting the Speaker in the management of

            legislative floor activity.''

    [[Page 863]]

      (sec. 223(b), H. Res. 6, 104th Cong., Jan. 4, 1995, p. ----).

                         EARLY ORGANIZATION OF THE HOUSE

     [FROM THE COMMITTEE REFORM AMENDMENTS OF 1974, MADE PERMANENT LAW IN 2
                                   __________

                                   U.S.C. 29A]

    Sec. 997. December caucuses.

      (a)(1) The  majority leader or
    minority leader of the House of Representatives after consultation with
    the Speaker may at any time during any even-numbered year call a caucus
    or conference, to begin on or after the first day of December and
    conclude on or before the twentieth day of December in such year and to
    be attended by all incumbent Members of his or her political party who
    have been reelected to the ensuing Congress and all other Members-elect
    of such party, for the purpose of taking all steps necessary to achieve
    the prompt organization of the Members and Members-elect of such party
    for the ensuing Congress.

      (2) If the majority leader or minority leader calls an organizational
    caucus or conference under paragraph (1), he or she shall file with the
    Clerk of the House a written notice designating the date upon which the
    caucus or conference is to convene. As soon as possible after the
    election of Members to the ensuing Congress, the Clerk shall furnish
    each Member-elect of the party involved with appropriate written
    notification of the caucus or conference.

      (3) If a vacancy occurs in the office of majority leader or minority
    leader during any even-numbered year (and has not been filled), the
    chairman of the caucus or conference of the party involved for the
    current Congress may call an organizational caucus or conference under
    paragraph (1) by filing written notice thereof as provided by paragraph
    (2).

    [[Page 864]]
    of residence in the district which he or she represents and Washington,
    District of Columbia, for the purpose of attending such caucus or
    conference. Payment shall be made through the issuance of a
    transportation request form to each such Member-elect or incumbent
    Member by the Finance Office of the House before such caucus or
    conference.

      (b)(1)(A) Each Member-elect (other than an incumbent Member reelected
    to the ensuing Congress) who attends a caucus or conference called under
    subsection (a), and each incumbent Member reelected to the ensuing
    Congress who attends any such caucus or conference convening after the
    adjournment sine die of the Congress in the year involved, shall be paid
    for one round trip between his or her place

      (B) Each Member-elect (other than an incumbent Member reelected to the
    ensuing Congress) who attends a caucus or conference called under
    subsection (a) shall in addition be reimbursed on a per diem or other
    basis for expenses incurred in connection with his or her attendance at
    such caucus or conference for a period not to exceed the shorter of the
    following--

              (i) the period beginning with the day before the designated

            date upon which such caucus or conference is to convene and

            ending with the day after the date of the final adjournment of

            such caucus or conference; or

              (ii) fourteen days.

      (2) Payments and reimbursements to Members-elect under paragraph (1)
    shall be made as provided (with respect to Members) in the regulations
    prescribed by the Committee on House Oversight with respect to travel
    and other expenses of committees and Members. Reimbursements shall be
    paid on special voucher forms prescribed by the Committee on House
    Oversight.

      (c) The contingent fund of the House is made available to carry out
    the purposes of this section.

      [from h. res. 10, 94th congress, made permanent law in 2 u.s.c. 29a]

    [[Page 865]]

      Resolved, That (a) each Member-elect (other than an incumbent Member
    reelected to the ensuing Congress) who attends a caucus or conference
    called under section 202(a) of House Resolution 988, Ninety-third
    Congress, and each incumbent Member reelected to the ensuing Congress
    who attends any such caucus or conference convening after the
    adjournment sine die of the Congress in the year involved, shall be
    entitled to designate one staff person to be paid for one round trip
    between that person's place of residence, provided such place of
    residence is in the district which the Member-elect or incumbent Member
    represents, and Washington, District of Columbia, for the purpose of
    accompanying that Member-elect or incumbent Member to such caucus or
    conference.

      (b) Each Member-elect (other than an incumbent Member reelected to the
    ensuing Congress) who attends a caucus or conference called under such
    section 202(a) shall be entitled to designate one staff person who shall
    in addition be reimbursed on a per diem or other basis for expenses
    incurred in accompanying the Member-elect at the time of such caucus or
    conference for a period not to exceed the shorter of the following--

              (i) the period beginning with the day before the designated

            date upon which such caucus or conference is to convene and

            ending with the day after the date of the final adjournment of

            such caucus or conference; or

              (ii) fourteen days.

      Sec. 2. (a) Payments and reimbursements to staff persons under the
    first section of this resolution shall be made as provided (with respect
    to staff) in the regulations prescribed by the Committee on House
    Oversight with respect to travel and other expenses of staff.
    Reimbursements shall be paid on special voucher forms prescribed by the
    Committee on House Oversight.

      (b) Additional funds, if any, for staff allowances and office space
    for use by Members-elect (other than an incumbent Member reelected to
    the ensuing Congress) shall be authorized by the Committee on House
    Oversight.