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Funding for House committees (except for the Committee on Appropriations) follows a two-step process of authorization and appropriation. Operating budgets for all standing and select committees of the House (except for the Committee on Appropriations) are authorized pursuant to a simple resolution, and funding is provided in the Legislative Branch Appropriations bill and other appropriations acts. Subsequent resolutions may change committee authorizations.
On March 17, 2017, the House adopted H.Res. 173, providing for the expenses of certain committees of the House of Representatives in the 115th Congress, by voice vote. The resolution authorized a total of $266.3 million for committee expenses, $132.7 million for the first session and $133.6 million for the second session.
The use of committee funds is subject to chamber rules, law, and regulations promulgated by the Committee on House Administration, the Commission on Congressional Mailing Standards, and the Ethics Committee. Committee funds may only be used only to support the conduct of official business of the committee. They may not be used for personal or campaign purposes. Information on individual committee spending is published quarterly in the Statements of Disbursement of the House.
This report is organized in three sections. The first provides an overview of the committee funding process in the House and analyzes funding levels since 1996. The second reviews House floor and committee action on committee funding in the 115th Congress. The final section summarizes the rules and regulations that structure the use of committee funds, and analyzes actual committee fundingcommittee spending patterns during sixseveral previous years.
previous years.
For specific authorization levels of individual committees, see CRS Report RL32794, House Committee Funding Requests and Authorizations, 104th-115th Congresses, by [author name scrubbed].
Funding for House committees (except for the Committee on Appropriations)1 follows a two-step process of authorization and appropriation. Operating budgets for all standing and select committees of the House (except for the Committee on Appropriations) are authorized pursuant to a chamber funding resolution, and funding is provided by annual appropriations in the Legislative Branch Appropriations bill and other appropriations acts.
On March 17, 2017, the House adopted H.Res. 173, providing for the expenses of certain committees of the House of Representatives in the 115th Congress, by voice vote. The resolution authorized a total of $266.3 million for committee expenses, $132.7 million for the first session and $133.6 million for the second session.
The use of committee funds is subject to chamber rules, law, and regulations promulgated by the Committee on House Administration, the Commission on Congressional Mailing Standards, and the Ethics Committee, among other House entities. These regulations may be found in a wide variety of sources, including statute, House rules, committee resolutions, the Committee Handbook,2 the Franking Manual,3 the House Ethics Manual,4 "Dear Colleague" letters, and formal and informal guidance. Committee funds may only be used only to support the conduct of official committee business. They may not be used for personal or campaign purposes, or comingled with any Members'funds appropriated to any other source of official funds, such as the Member Representational Allowance (MRA). Information on individual committee spending is published quarterly in the Statements of Disbursement of the House.
This report is organized ininto three sections. The first provides an overview of the committee funding process in the House and analyzes funding levels since 1996. The second reviews House floor and committee action on committee funding in the 115th Congress. The final section provides illustrations of the rules and regulations that structure the use of committee funds, and analyzes actual committee funding spending patterns during six previous years.
Contemporary funding for House committees (except for the Committee on Appropriations) follows a two-step process of authorization and appropriation. Operating budgets for all standing and select committees of the House continued or created at the beginning of a new Congress (except for the Committee on Appropriations) are authorized biennially pursuant to an omnibus committee funding resolution (known as the "primary expense resolution"), and funding is, and appropriations are included in the Legislative Branch Appropriations bill.5
Pursuant to House Rule X, clause 6, the Committee on House Administration reports an omnibus For a two-year Congress, the omnibus committee funding resolution typically specifies a dollar amount limit for each committee that shall be available for its expenses (divided between the first and second sessions), in addition to a reserve fund for unanticipated expenses. This resolution does not appropriate funds; the actual appropriation for House committee expenses is provided in the annual Legislative Branch Appropriations bill. In effect, the dollar amounts specified in the omnibus committee funding resolution limit how much of the amount appropriated for committee expenses will be available for any particular committee., biennial "primary expense resolution" to cover to authorize the expenses of each standing and select committee of the House, except the Committee on Appropriations, for each two-year Congress.
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In preparation for the biennial resolution, House committees6 (except the Appropriations Committee) are required by regulations of the Committee on House Administration to submit an operating budget request for the two years of a Congress.7 Each committee is also required to introduce a House resolution with its proposed authorization. These actions typicallyThe chair of each committee usually introduces a House resolution with his or her committee's proposed authorization. Typically, these actions take place during late February, with committees typically approving their proposed budgets at a committee organizing meeting.
The individual resolutions are referred to the Committee on House Administration, which may hold hearings on each committee's request. The chair and the ranking minority Member from each committee are typically the only witnesses who testify at these hearings, giving them an opportunity to explain and defend their budgets.
After completion of the hearings, the chair of the Committee on House Administration introduces the omnibus funding resolution for that two-year Congress, which, after its referral to the Committee on House Administration, serves as the legislative vehicle for committee markup. The resolution is typically reported out of committee without amendment.
The primary expense The omnibus resolution is usually considered by the House induring March of the first session of a Congress, and agreed to with little debate.
Prior to this consideration, during the first three months of each new Congress, House Rule X, clause 7, authorizes House committees to continue operations at funding levelsinterim funding for House committees based on their authorizations from the preceding Congress. UnderSpecifically, under Rule X, clause 7, this interim funding may not exceed, per month, 9% of the previous year's funding.
Funding for all House committees is included in the Legislative Branch Appropriations bill. Line-item appropriations are not made for individual committees, except the Committee on Appropriations. Instead, funding is provided as a single total amount for all committees (except the Committee on Appropriations), under the heading "Committee Employees" and the subheading "Standing Committees, Special and Select," within the House account "Salaries and Expenses."
Consequently, the amount appropriated for committee funding places a ceiling on total committee expenditures, but not on any individual committee's expenditures (except the Committee on Appropriations). The expenditures of individual committees are constrained instead by their authorization.
In addition, becauseSince authorizations for committee funds are made biennially on a on a biennial, calendar-year basis and appropriations are made annually on a fiscal-year basis, there is no one-to-one correspondence between the authorization and the appropriations in any given year. For any individual biennial funding resolution, funds may be drawn from money appropriated in three different fiscal years.8
Figure 1. House Committee Funding Timeline, 115th Congress
Source: H.Res. 173, "Providing for the expenses of certain committees of the House of Representatives in the One Hundred Fifteenth Congress."
Finally, although appropriations are made annually for House committee funding, the language typically states that the funding shall remain available until the end of the second calendar year of the current Congress. For example, in both FY2015 and FY2016, committee funds were appropriated to remain available until December 31, 2016.9
Clause 6(cd) of House Rule X requires that "the minority party (be)[be] treated fairly in the appointment" of committee staff employed pursuant to such expense resolutions. In recent years, the House majority leadership has encouraged its committee leaders to provide the minority with one-third of the committee staff and resources authorized in the biennial funding resolutions. Statements made by the chair and ranking Member of the Committee on House Administration at the beginning of its committee funding review in recent Congresses indicate a general consensus that all House committees should provide at least one-third minority staffing.
Figure 1 reports2 shows the aggregate committee funding authorization level from 1996 to 2018, in both nominal and real dollars. Since 1996, aggregate committee funding has increased by slightly more than 68%, from $79.4 million in 1996 to $133.6.0 million in 2018, for an average annual increase of 3.1%. In constant dollars, however, aggregate funding has increased only 8.0% between 1996 and 2017, for an annual average real increase of less than four-tenths of 1%.
The Committee on House Administration held a hearing on committee expense requests on February 15 and 16, 2017.10 Chairs and ranking Members from each standing and select committee (except the Committee on Appropriations) testified on their budget requests.11 Representative Gregg Harper, chair of the panel, indicated that the committee had "worked to strike the right balance" in providing funds for committees while remaining fiscally conscious of costs.12
During the hearing, the chairman and the ranking minority Member, Representative Robert Brady, reiterated the long-standing expectation that committee resources would reflect a distribution of two-thirds of the committee staff to the majority, and one-third to the minority, and a similar distribution of non-staffnonstaff resources.13 In their testimony, most committee chairs and ranking minority Members explicitly acknowledged mutually satisfactory arrangements had been reached regarding the distribution of committee staff and other resources.14
On March 7, 2017, H.Res. 173, providing for the expenses of certain committees of the House of Representatives in the 115th Congress, was introduced and referred to the Committee on House Administration. On March 8, 2017, the Committee on House Administration marked up H.Res. 173, which was reported to the House by voice vote.15 Section 3(c) of the resolution stipulated that none of the funds for the second session may be made available after March 15, 2018, until the chairs or ranking Members appeared and presented testimony before the Committee on House Administration to review the use of funds in the first session.
In the second session of the 115th Congress, on March 7 and June 26, 2018, the Committee on House Administration considered committee resolutions 115-9 and 115-19, respectively. These resolutions allocated funds from the reserve fund for unanticipated expenses, established by H.Res. 173. In both instances, the committee agreed to the resolution by voice vote and without amendment.16
On March 17, 2017, the House agreed to H.Res. 173 by voice vote. The resolution authorized a total of $266.3 million for committee expenses, $132.7 million for the first session and $133.6 million for the second session.16
Appropriations for House standing and select committees are typically included annually in the Legislative Branch Appropriations bill. In FY2017, $127.1 million was appropriated for House standing committees (except for the Appropriations Committee) in the Consolidated Appropriations Acts, 2017, to remain available until December 31, 2018.17 In FY2016, $123.9 million was appropriated for House standing committees (except for the Appropriations Committee) in the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Acts, 2016, to remain available until December 31, 2016.18
In accordance with the regulations contained in the Committee Handbook,20The following amounts were appropriated for the expenses of House standing committees (except for the Committee on Appropriations) in recent appropriations bills:
House Committee Funds: Usage
Regulations21
In accordance with the regulations contained in the Committee Handbook,22 "Committee funds are provided to pay ordinary and necessary expenses incurred by committee Members and employees in the United States."2123 Ordinary and necessary expenses are defined as "reasonable expenditures in support of official committee business that are consistent with all applicable Federal laws, Rules of the House of Representatives, and regulations of the Committee on House Administration."2224 All expenditures of a committee are subject to review by its committee chair. Funding "may not be used to defray any personal, political or campaign-related expenses, or expenses related to a Member's personal office."2325
Committees may employ permanent staff, consultants, detailees, fellows, interns, temporary and shared employees, and volunteers.2426 The terms and conditions of employment for committee staff are determined by the committee chair.2527 Total staff ceilings for each committee are set by the Speaker.2628 Employees of a House committee are covered by the Congressional Accountability Act.27
Domestic travel including transportation, lodging, and meals (excluding alcohol) is reimbursable from committee funds.2830 Travel expenses may not be for personal or political campaign events and may not exceed 60 consecutive days.2931 Foreign travel is coordinated through the State Department Travel Office and is subject to House Rule X, clause 8(b)(3) where, whereby each Member and employee on foreign travel must submit an itemized report of expenses to the committee chair.3032
TheTo better understand how committees have used their authorized funds, the following sections provide an analysis of annual committee expenditures during sixseveral different legislative years. Total expenditures of individual committees are examined to ascertain aggregate committee costs and the percentage of the annual authorization expended. Data are also examined on individual expenditures across budget categories, to better understand how committees have used their authorized funds.
Data on Specifically, committee expenditures are analyzed to determine (1) the percentage of each committee's annual authorization that is expended, and (2) major categories of committee spending.
Data
Data on yearly committee expenditures were compiled using the quarterly Statement of Disbursements of the House,33 which reports all individual House expenditures disbursed during the previous quarter.31 The Statement of Disbursements aggregates expenditures for individual committees across standard budget object classes used by the federal government, which serve as the unit of analysis (see below). Data were examined for six different years: 1997, 1998, 2003, 2004, 2011, and 2012. The universe of data includes over 3,300 observations.32
For each year analyzed, disbursement reports for 16 quarters were examined, since, pursuant to law, late-arriving bills may be paid for up to two years following the end of the fiscal year for which funds were appropriated.33 Since committee funds are typically appropriated to expire at the end of a Congress, late-arriving bills from either session could be paid with old appropriations through the end of the following Congress. For example, while committees could only obligate 1997 or 1998 authorized expenditures from January 3, 1997, until January 2, 1998, and from January 3, 1998, until January 2, 1999, respectively, late-arriving receipts for either authorization could be paid through the quarter ending December 31, 2000, since FY1997 and FY1998 appropriations for committee funds were available through December 31, 1998.34
Because late-arriving bills for committee expenses may be paid for up to two years following the end of a fiscal year for which funds are appropriated, obligations incurred by a committee during a particular legislative year are often paid over the course of multiple calendar years.35 For example, H.R. 244, the Consolidated Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2017, provided that appropriations for House committees remain available until December 31, 2018.36 This would suggest that financial obligations made by committees in 2017 may be paid with remaining FY2017 appropriations through the quarter ending December 31, 2020. Consequently, the total expenditures of a committee in any given legislative year are calculated using quarterly Statement of Disbursements reports from both the year in which the committee operated, as well as subsequent years. The following analysis calculates total disbursements made for legislative years 2010 through 2015, years for which House Statements of Disbursements are available electronically, and the bulk of late-arriving bills as described above have been received.37 In addition, data on disbursements from a sample of earlier legislative years—1997, 1998, 2003, and 2004—are analyzed in order to detect any longer-term trends in how committee funds have been used.
House Standing and Select Committees (excluding Appropriations Committee), Selected Years Source: CRS analysis of Statements of Disbursements and House committee funding resolutions for 2010 through 2015.House spending is categorized by the standard budget object classes used for the federal government.3534
Spending by Budget Category
House spending is categorized by the standard budget object classes used for the federal government.38 These include
The disbursement volumes also contain a category for franked mail.37
Table 1 demonstrates that the overwhelming majority of committees used almost all of the funds authorized to them. Across all years, slightly more than 8% of the committees spent less than 80% of their authorization; whereas 71% of the committees spent 90% or more of their authorization, and 50% of committees spent more than 95% of their authorization.
Table 1. Percentage of Authorization Expended
House Standing and Select Committees (excluding Appropriations Committee), SelectSelected Years
Year |
< 80% | 80-90%
|
% Personnel Compensation |
90-95% |
95-99% |
>99% | Total Number
|
Printing and Reproduction
|
Other Services
|
Supplies and Materials Equipment |
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1997 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
5 |
6 |
19 | ||||||||||||
1998 |
0 |
4 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
19 |
||||||||||||
2003 |
3 |
2 |
7 |
4 |
4 |
20 |
||||||||||||
2004 |
2 |
4 |
1 |
10 |
3 |
20 |
||||||||||||
2011 |
3 |
6 |
6 |
3 |
2 |
20 |
||||||||||||
2012 |
0 |
5 |
4 |
4 |
7 |
20 |
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Total |
10 (8%) |
24 (20%) |
25 (21%) |
31 (26%) |
28 (24%) |
118 (100%) |
Source: CRS analysis of Statement of Disbursements.
Figure 2 shows that the largest category of spending in all six years, accounting for just over 90% of total committee spending, was for "Personnel compensation." Beyond these staff expenses, committees spent an aggregate of 4.3% of their expenditures on "Equipment," just over 2% on "Supplies and Materials," and two-thirds of 1% on travel. The use of most committee funds on personnel is true both across time and across individual committees. Only one committee—the then-Select Committee on Homeland Security in 2003, its first full year in existence—spent less than 85% of its funds on personnel.
Author Contact Information
Acknowledgments
Lara Chausow provided research, analysis, and other assistance for this report. Amber Wilhelm provided graphics assistance forFormer CRS Analyst Matthew E. Glassman originally authored this report. The listed author updated this report and is available to respond to inquiries on the subject from congressional clients. Amber Wilhelm provided graphics assistance for this report. Lara Chausow, formerly a CRS Research Assistant, provided research, analysis, and other assistance for an earlier version of this report.
1. |
P.L. 79-601, Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946, |
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2. |
Available at http://cha.house.gov/handbooks/committee-handbook. |
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3. |
Available at |
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4. |
Available at http://ethics.house.gov/sites/ethics.house.gov/files/documents/2008_House_Ethics_Manual.pdf. |
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5. |
The funds are contained under the heading "Committee Employees; Standing Committees, Special and Select." For example, see Division I, P.L. 114- |
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6. |
Select committees may not initially follow this process |
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7. |
The budgetary requests include estimated salary needs for staff, costs of consulting services, printing costs, office equipment and supply costs, and travel costs for committee members and staff. |
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8. |
For example, during the 114th Congress, appropriations for committee funding were included in the FY2015 (October 1, 2014 |
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9. |
P.L. 113-235, 128 Stat. 2526. P.L. 114-113, 129 Stat. 2659. |
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10. |
See https://cha.house.gov/hearing/hearing-committee-funding-115th-congress. |
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11. |
Ibid. Individual expense resolutions introduced by committee chairs in the 115th Congress in anticipation of the Committee on House Administration's development of the primary expense resolution were H.Res. 73 |
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12. |
House Committee on House Administration, Committee Funding for the 115th Congress (Day One), available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEwASX-2uFo. |
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13. |
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14. |
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15. |
U.S. Congress, House Committee on House Administration, Providing for the Expenses of Certain Committees of the House of Representatives in the 115th Congress |
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16. |
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17. | |||||||||
18. | |||||||||
17.
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18.
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19.
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P.L. 115-31, 131 Stat. 572. 20.
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P.L. 114-113, 129 Stat. 2659. |
This section provides an illustrative overview of committee funding regulations, and is not meant to be exhaustive. |
Available at http://cha.house.gov/handbooks/committee-handbook. |
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Committee Handbook, Introduction. |
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Committee Handbook, General. |
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Committee Handbook Committee Staff, Consultants, and Detailees. |
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Committee Handbook, Committee Staff, Consultants, and Detailees. |
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Committee Handbook, Domestic Travel. |
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Committee Handbook, Foreign Travel. |
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The Statements of Disbursements are published as House documents and have been made publicly available in the Legislative Resource Center. Beginning with the quarter ending September 30, 2009, quarterly records of disbursements have been available on the House of Representatives website, at http://disbursements.house.gov. |
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One general caveat accompanies this analysis. The data provide only a snapshot of committee expenditures in particular years. Although such data can be used to assess the general |
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Pursuant to law, late-arriving bills for committee expenses may be paid for up to two years following the end of an appropriation. 36.
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P.L. 115-31, 131 Stat. 572. |
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This classification system is derived from U.S. Office of Management and Budget, OMB Circular A-11, |
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This may include, for example, office supplies, bottled water for hearings, and publication/reference material. |
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Certain expenses are not included in committee expenditures and are not reflected in the data in this section of the report. These expenses include the salaries of Members and certain benefits—including health and life insurance and retirement—for both Members and staff. Additionally, the range of items that may be covered by an office, as well as payment ceilings, have changed over time. For example, in a "Dear Colleague" letter of April 20, 2009, the Committee on House Administration announced that effective June 1, 2009, a transit benefit program previously administered in part by the committees would be administered centrally and available to all qualifying House employees. Previously, committees could determine whether or not to provide the transit benefit to their employees from committee funds. Those who offered this benefit would record the expenditure under the personnel benefits category. In addition to administrative changes, the maximum authorized level has also changed a number of times since the establishment of the program. |