[House Report 112-362]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
112th Congress Report
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
2d Session 112-362
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ADJUSTING THE AMOUNT PROVIDED FOR THE EXPENSES OF CERTAIN COMMITTEES OF
THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES IN THE ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS
_______
January 17, 2012.--Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be
printed
_______
Mr. Daniel E. Lungren of California, from the Committee on House
Administration, submitted the following
R E P O R T
together with
MINORITY VIEWS
[To accompany H. Res. 496]
The Committee on House Administration, to whom was referred
the resolution (H. Res. 496) adjusting the amount provided for
the expenses of certain committees of the House of
Representatives in the One Hundred Twelfth Congress, having
considered the same, report favorably thereon without amendment
and recommend that the resolution be agreed to.
BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR THE RESOLUTION
Under House rule X, clause 6, the Committee on House
Administration is charged with the responsibility of reporting
an expense resolution to grant authorization for the expenses,
including salaries, of the select and standing committees of
the House. To accomplish this goal, the Committee convened a
hearing to provide the Chairs and Ranking Members of the
standing and select committees an opportunity to present and
justify their respective budget requests. These budget requests
covered both sessions of Congress.
On March 9, 2011, by voice vote, the Committee met and
unanimously agreed to a motion to favorably report H. Res. 147,
the omnibus expense resolution, to the House. This resolution
combined the standing and select committees' initial budget
requests after consideration of available funds and budget
constraints. Further, section 3(c) of the resolution stipulated
that none of the funds for the second session may be made
available after March 15, 2012, until the Chairs and Ranking
Members appeared and presented testimony before House
Administration to review the use of funds in the first session.
On July 22, 2011, the House passed H.R. 2551, the
Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2012. This bill
appropriates $125,964,870 for salaries and expenses of the
standing and select committees for 2012. That amount represents
a 6.4% reduction from the 2011 appropriation level for
committee budgets.
To meet the section 3(c) requirement of H. Res. 147, on
November 30, 2011, the Committee held an oversight hearing to
review the budgets for all the standing and select committees
(except the Committee on Appropriations) in 2011, and to review
budget planning for 2012. During the hearing, Committee members
asked the Chairs and Ranking Members about how each committee
operated with their lower budgets and whether the committees
could continue to perform their responsibilities with future
cuts to their budgets. Each committee was also questioned on
whether they have held to the practice of giving the minority
one-third of the committee's budget.
On December 14, 2011, Chairman Lungren introduced a second
committee funding resolution, H. Res. 496, to adjust committee
authorization levels. This resolution--matching authorization
levels with the reduced funding levels--required the Committee
to make extremely difficult decisions.
Most committees will be faced with tremendous oversight
responsibilities in 2012. Particularly daunting will be Armed
Services' charge of managing the automatic sequestration of
$600 billion in defense funding triggered by the Budget Control
Act. In addition to Armed Services, the Ethics Committee--
tasked with holding Members and staff to the highest ethical
standards--requested and received reprieve from authorization
reductions in this resolution.
To offset these exceptions, the Committee identified and
reduced the authorizations of committee budgets most able to
absorb a slightly larger reduction in 2012. In addition to the
Committee on House Administration, the Committee on Science,
Space, and Technology and the Committee on Small Business
received a slightly higher reduction than the 6.4% cut applied
to the remaining House committees.
On December 16, 2011, the Committee, by voice vote, agreed
to a motion to favorably report the resolution to the House.
SUMMARY AND SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS
Section 1(a) adjusts the aggregate amount paid out of the
applicable accounts of the House of Representatives with
respect to the 112th Congress for the expenses (including the
expense of all staff salaries) of the select and standing
committees of the House (except the Committee on
Appropriations).
Section 1(b) adjusts the amount provided for the expenses
of each standing and select committee of the House (except the
Committee on Appropriations) for expenses incurred during the
second session of the 112th Congress (the period beginning at
noon on January 3, 2012, and ending immediately before noon on
January 3, 2013).
The amounts for each committee contained in the primary
expense resolution are as follows:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Committee 112th total Second session
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Agriculture....................... $11,848,132 $5,658,638
Armed Services.................... 14,900,023 7,374,759
Budget............................ 11,680,246 5,647,061
Education and Workforce........... 16,158,348 7,812,094
Energy and Commerce............... 21,678,149 10,697,209
Ethics............................ 6,218,310 3,393,775
Financial Services................ 16,825,969 8,384,705
Foreign Affairs................... 17,331,982 8,379,512
Homeland Security................. 16,347,050 7,903,326
House Administration.............. 10,118,345 5,169,169
Judiciary......................... 16,265,122 7,863,716
Natural Resources................. 15,235,867 7,366,101
Oversight & Gov't. Reform......... 20,546,873 9,933,819
Rules............................. 6,566,883 3,174,898
Science, Space, and Technology.... 12,671,660 5,986,023
Small Business.................... 6,598,427 3,383,536
Transportation and Infrastructure. 19,195,872 9,280,649
Veterans' Affairs................. 7,049,575 3,446,830
Ways and Means.................... 18,975,444 9,174,079
HPSC on Intelligence.............. 9,977,660 4,823,910
-------------------------------------
Totals........................ 276,189,937 134,853,809
------------------------------------------------------------------------
COMMITTEE CONSIDERATION OF H. RES. 496
INTRODUCTION AND REFERRAL
On December 14, 2011, Representative Daniel E. Lungren of
California introduced House Resolution 496, which was referred
to the Committee on House Administration.
HEARINGS
On November 30, 2011, the Committee held an oversight
hearing to review the budgets for all the standing and select
committees (except the Committee on Appropriations) in 2011,
and to review budget planning for 2012. The Chairs and Ranking
Members of the select and standing committees provided
testimony on their respective use of committee funds.
COMMITTEE CONSIDERATION
On December 16, 2011, the Committee met to mark up House
Resolution 496. The Committee ordered the resolution reported
favorably to the House by voice vote, with a quorum present.
COMMITTEE RECORD VOTES
In compliance with House rule XIII, clause 3(b), with
respect to each record vote on an amendment or motion to
report, together with the names of those voting for and
against, the Committee states that there were no recorded votes
during the consideration of this resolution.
COMMITTEE OVERSIGHT FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
In compliance with House rule XXIII, clause 3(c)(1), the
Committee states that the findings and recommendations of the
Committee, based on oversight activities under House rule X,
clause 2(b)(1), are incorporated into the general discussion
section of this report.
STATEMENT OF BUDGET AUTHORITY AND RELATED ITEMS
The resolution does not provide new budget authority, new
spending authority, new credit authority, or an increase or
decrease in revenues or tax expenditures and a statement under
House rule XXIII, clause 3(c)(2), and section 308(a)(1) of the
Congressional Budget Act of 1974 is not required.
CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE COST ESTIMATE
In compliance with House rule XXIII, clause 3(c)(3), the
Committee states, with respect to House Resolution 496, that
the Director of the Congressional Budget Office did not submit
a cost estimate and comparison under section 402 of the
Congressional Budget Act of 1974.
PERFORMANCE GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
In compliance with House rule XXIII, clause 3(c)(4), the
Committee states that the general discussion section of this
report includes a statement of the general performance goals
and objectives, including outcome-related goals and objectives,
for which House Resolution 496 authorizes funding.
ADVISORY ON EARMARKS
In accordance with House rule XXI, clause 9, the Committee
states that the provisions in House Resolution 496 that
warranted a referral to the Committee on House Administration
do not contain any congressional earmarks, limited tax
benefits, or limited tariff benefits as defined in clause 9(e),
9(f), or 9(g) of rule XXI.
MINORITY VIEWS OF RANKING MEMBER ROBERT A. BRADY, REP. ZOE LOFGREN AND
REP. CHARLES A. GONZALEZ
Committee Democrats oppose this unprecedented committee
defunding resolution which would reduce budgets by an average
of 6.4% during the second session. These cuts come just nine
months after House Resolution 147 instituted an average cut of
5 percent in funding for each committee.
As committee chairmen and ranking members repeatedly
testified at our November 30, 2011, oversight hearing, this
reduction in funding will undermine the House's most
fundamental legislative and oversight functions. The end result
is likely to be an increase in total government spending as
well as decreased efficiency, as was noted by many Republican
Members at the hearing. The testimony of the chairs and ranking
Members should be heeded. The rationale behind the biennial
committee budgeting process, supposedly one of the great
reforms of the Gingrich Republican Revolution of 1995, is being
undermined.
Testimony at our oversight hearing by both chairs and
ranking members confirmed that additional budget cuts as
contemplated by House Resolution 496 would have an adverse
impact on both staff jobs and salaries. The resolution makes
cuts just so we can say that we cut. The minority would be
particularly hard hit. If the majority is contemplating
additional cuts, they should be considered with the next
biennial funding resolution, when proper notice and planning
could occur at the committees.
Committee Democrats unsuccessfully offered an amendment
during the markup to provide 60 days severance pay to any
committee staff dismissed as a result of passage of H. Res.
496. This is a common practice in the private sector. The
amendment, which was defeated on a party-line vote, itself was
based on House Resolution 1104, brought to the Floor at the end
of the 109th Congress by our former chairman, Vern Ehlers, with
the support of Rep. Lungren. Unfortunately, that measure had
been rejected by voice vote under suspension.
As Rep. Lungren said in debate on H. Res. 1104: ``I happen
to be one of those who has been accused about not being
concerned enough about staff, but the fact of the matter is, if
we want small government to work well, we need to have good
people to work here. I don't know why we are taking the time
tonight to berate, in essence, our people, to suggest that
somehow they knew this was coming.''
We told committees earlier this year that we were making a
5 percent cut, and then we gave them their budgets for the
112th Congress. Committee chairs and ranking members planned
and hired their staffs accordingly. That promise created at
least a semblance of finality after the change of party
majorities following the 2010 election, when the Democratic
minority was forced to dismiss half of our former committee
staff.
We urge the defeat of House Resolution 496.
Robert A. Brady.
Zoe Lofgren.
Charles A. Gonzalez.