[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]



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                       JOINT AND SELECT COMMITTEES


                           SERVICES TO MEMBERS


                              HOUSE OFFICES


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[[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).

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                              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.''


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  (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.