By GAIL FINEBERG
Members of Congress asked questions and witnesses offered suggestions with regard to the Congressional Research Service and the Copyright Office at a hearing Feb. 2 but did not focus on drastic cuts or reorganization at the Library.
Sen. Connie Mack (R-Fla.), chairman of the Senate Appropriations Legislative Branch Subcommittee, and Rep. Ron Packard (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Appropriations Legislative Branch Subcommittee, presided over the first-ever joint hearing of these appropriations subcommittees.
Several witnesses encouraged Congress to take a fresh look at legislative branch organizations and operations. They offered testimony on, among other issues, duplication of research and information services among legislative support agencies, such as the General Accounting Office (GAO), Office of Technology Assessment (OTA), Congressional Budget Office (CBO), Congressional Research Service (CRS), and various congressional committees.
"This duplication of effort, which occurs in the Executive Branch on a much larger scale, has to be substantially reduced. It has grown out of control," stated Joseph Wright former director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Reagan, in written testimony.
He endorsed a 1993 recommendation of the Joint Committee on the Organization of Congress, chaired by Sens. Pete V. Domenici (R-N.M.) and David L. Boren (D-Okla.), to reduce the GAO by at least 25 percent; abolish OTA; repeal permanent authorization for CRS, GAO, CBO and the Government Printing Office and instead enact authorizations of eight years for each; and examine the feasibility of establishing a voucher system for committee use of each of these support agencies.
During the morning session, Mr. Wright said 80 percent of GAO's work is driven by requests from members of Congress and that members and committees should be charged for services from support agencies. He also suggested that Congress develop standards or guidelines to limit information requests from members and committees.
At one point, Mr. Wright said OTA work could be done by CRS, GAO or outside contractors, and later, during a discussion with Rep. Packard, he said both GAO and CRS could contract out research services.
Mr. Wright questioned the legislative function of the Copyright Office and said it could be transferred from LC to the Patent and Trademark Office. Norman Ornstein, a congressional scholar, also questioned the placement of the Copyright Office in the Library of Congress.
Christopher T. Hill, a professor of public policy and technology at George Mason University and a senior specialist in science and technology policy for the Congressional Research Service from 1983 to 1990, later pointed out that the Library "gets lots of free books" because applicants for copyright registrations deposit copies with LC. "If you move that office out of the Library, then you may have to increase the Library's book purchase budget," he said.
Mr. Wright also suggested that Congress consider recommendations of Reps. Dan Schaefer (R-Colo.) and Timothy J. Penny (D-Minn.) in their proposal (the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1994) to reduce congressional franking by 50 percent, eliminate the Joint Committee on Printing and the Joint Economic Committee and reduce funding by 10 percent for both the Congressional Budget Office and the Architect of the Capitol.
CRS came up for discussion by a panel that included Mr. Hill; Mr. Ornstein; David M. Mason, director of the U.S. Congress Assessment Project at the Heritage Foundation; and Thomas A. Schatz, president of Citizens Against Government Waste.
Mr. Hill argued that the work of CRS, OTA, CBO, and GAO "has great value to the nation, directly as they help you do your jobs better and indirectly as their work helps inform all of us." He suggested that Congress increase public access to CRS reports and encourage CRS to hire more experienced senior staff from outside its own ranks. He recommended against eliminating OTA, against combining OTA and CRS, and against adopting a voucher system to ration member access to CRS.
"CRS has developed an informal and intelligent process of negotiating with clients to determine what they really need, plus they probably have related reports to draw upon. A pricing mechanism will interfere with this intelligent system," Mr. Hill said.
Mr. Ornstein disagreed. He argued that CRS does "gofer" work for congressional staff. "We need to wire Capitol Hill and put everything CRS does online so everyone on the Hill can call it up," Mr. Ornstein said.
Mr. Mason said he would not recommend seeking substantial savings from the Library, CRS or the Congressional Budget Office. "My impression, from over a decade of being a consumer of its products and working with its employees, is that the Congressional Research Service is a professional, well managed and responsive organization," Mr. Mason said in his written statement.
He said CRS might be able to eliminate some low-priority work. He suggested that CRS come up with a simple cost-accounting system for original reports and report the cost of studies done for each member and committee.
Mr. Mason further recommended that OTA and the Government Printing Office be abolished and that GPO's depository library functions be transferred to the Library of Congress and its printing functions be contracted out. GAO's funding should be reduced by a total of 45 percent, he said, and the services of the Architect of the Capitol should be reviewed.
"Congress should review the Architect's functions to determine whether and how much work can be contracted out," Mr. Mason said in his written statement. "Though you cannot know for sure ahead of time the exact level of savings that is achievable, it is quite reasonable to expect reductions of up to 25 percent, possibly along with increased efficiencies from a vigorous contracting-out program."
"As a general rule it is inefficient for any organization to perform noncentral services internally: construction, painting and furniture are all areas which might more efficiently be contracted out than performed by a permanent work force," Mr. Mason said.
He recommended that the AOC's functions be divided, with responsibility for House and Senate office buildings and Capitol areas assigned to the Chief Administrative Officer of the House and the Senate Sergeant at Arms.
Mr. Schatz echoed the call to eliminate duplication of services by legislative support agencies. He recommended eliminating OTA as well as the Joint Committees on Printing and the Library and the Joint Economic Committee. GPO should be privatized, and funding for GAO and the Architect of the Capitol should be reduced, he said.
Rep. Vic Fazio (D-Calif.), ranking member of the House appropriations panel and former chair of the panel, said the joint hearing was a precedent-setting idea that would improve communication between chambers. However, he warned against legislative branch reductions that could be counterproductive in the long run.
Rep. Fazio argued for a gradual reduction of funds for the General Accounting Office rather than a 25 percent cut this year. He said the Congressional Budget Office funding has been level for several years, despite increasing congressional demands for its services. The Office of Technology Assessment provides Congress with a check on the executive branch, has few staff and has a bipartisan board that sets its priorities, he said. "Its elimination would be a real loss to Congress."
The afternoon session focused on the Government Printing Office and the Architect of the Capitol. Tim Sprehe, a former Office of Management and Budget employee, said GPO should be abolished. Work of the Superintendent of Documents should be transferred to the Library, and the depository library should be turned into an electronic network, he suggested. Government agencies should have control over their own printing and publishing or procure printing through the General Services Administration, Mr. Sprehe said.
Witnesses called for a thorough review of the organization of the office of the Architect of the Capitol, with emphasis on privatizing selected operations.
Gail Fineberg is the Editor of the The Gazette, a weekly newspaper for Library staff.