[Constitution, Jefferson's Manual, and the Rules of the House of Representatives, 107th Congress]
[107th Congress]
[House Document 106-320]
[House And Congressional Offices]
[Pages 927-929]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office, www.gpo.gov]
[[Page 927]]
HOUSE AND CONGRESSIONAL OFFICES
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| Sec. 1113. House Commission on Congressional Mailing Standards. | Members may send through the mails, under their frank, certain documents and materials as provided by 39 U.S.C. 3210, subject to the limitations prescribed in rule XXIV, supra. The House Commission on Congressional Mailing Standards, composed of six Members of the House, provides advice in connection with the mailing of franked mail (sec. 5, P.L. 93-191). |
| Sec. 1114. House Office Building Commission. | Rooms in the House Office Buildings 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 Oct. 7, 1996). The commission also issues regulations governing the House Office Buildings, House garages, and the Capitol Power Plant (see regulations promulgated December, 1995). The commission is composed of the Speaker and two Members of the House (traditionally the Majority and Minority Leaders) (40 U.S.C. 175). |
| Sec. 1115. General Accounting Office. | 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). |
| Sec. 1116. Office of Compliance. | The Office of Compliance was established by the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1381). The office is composed of five individuals appointed jointly by the Speaker, the Majority Leader of the Senate, and the Minority Leaders of the House and the Senate. The office has regulatory, enforcement, and educational responsibilities under the Act. The office replaced the Review Panel of the Office of Fair Employment Practices at the beginning of the 105th Congress (see Sec. 1101, supra). However, the review panel was reconstituted in the same form as at the end of the 104th Congress to provide for the completion of ongoing proceedings in the 105th Congress (Feb. 25, 1997, p. ----). Section 1382 provides for a General Counsel to be appointed by the Chair of the Compliance Board to exercise the authorities of the Office of Compliance. |
| Sec. 1117. Congressional Research Service. | 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). |
| Sec. 1118. Legislative Counsel. | 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) 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. |
| Sec. 1119. Congressional Budget Office. | The Congressional Budget Office was established by the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 601). The office is headed by a director, who is appointed by the Speaker and the President pro tempore. Section 202 of the Act (2 U.S.C. 602) outlines the functions of the office, which include providing assistance to the House and Senate Committees on the Budget and Appropriations and the Senate Committee on Finance in the discharge of matters within their jurisdiction and to other committees to assist them in complying with the provisions of the Act. |
| Sec. 1120. Law Revision Counsel. | The Office of the Law Revision Counsel, to develop a codification of the laws of the United States, was authorized in the 93d Congress by the Committee Reform Amendments of 1974 (sec. 205, H. Res. 988, Oct. 8, 1974, p. 34470, made permanent law by P.L. 93-544 (2 U.S.C. 285)). |
| Sec. 1121. Technology Assessment. | 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). The office received funding for 1996 to conduct an orderly shutdown (tit. I, P.L. 104-53) and received no funding for 1997 (P.L. 104-197). |
| Sec. 1122. Office of the Parliamentarian. | A Parliamentarian has been appointed by the Speaker in every Congress since 1927. Prior to 1927 the ``Clerk at the Speaker's Table'' performed the function of the Parliamentarian. In the 95th Congress the House formally and permanently established an Office of the Parliamentarian to be managed, supervised, and administered by a nonpartisan 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). The compilation and prepara |
| Sec. 1123. 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 (Sec. 223(b), H. Res. 6, 104th Cong., Jan. 4, 1995, p. 469, enacted into permanent law by the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 1996 (sec. 103, P.L. 104-53)). |
| Sec. 1124. Corrections Calendar Office. | In the 105th Congress the House established a Corrections Calendar Office to assist the Speaker in his management of the Calendar (H. Res. 7, 105th Cong., Jan. 7, 1997, as enacted into permanent law by sec. 101 of the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 1998 (2 U.S.C. 74d)). |
| Sec. 1125. House Recording Studio. | The House Recording Studio was established by the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 1957 (2 U.S.C. 123b) and provides Members with audio and video recording services. The studio is under the direction and control of the Committee on the House Recording Studio, which consists of three members appointed by the Speaker. |
| Sec. 1125a. United States Capitol Preservation Commission. | The United States Capitol Preservation Commission was established in 1988 (40 U.S.C. 188a) to provide improvements in, preservation of, and acquisitions for the Capitol and to provide works of fine art and other property for display in the Capitol. In the 106th Congress the Commission was given responsibility for the planning, engineering, design, and construction of the Capitol Visitor Center (sec. 310, Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2000). Membership on the Commission consists of the Speaker, the President pro tempore (co- chairmen), the chairman and vice chairman of the Joint Committee on the Library, the chairmen and ranking minority members of the Committee on Rules and Administration and the Committee on House Administration, the Majority and Minority Leaders of the House and Senate, the chairmen of the Commission on the Bicentennial of the Senate and the Commission of the House of Representatives Bicentenary, two Members of the Senate, and two Members of the House. |
| Sec. 1125b. Office of General Counsel. | The General Counsel appointed under clause 8 of rule II is authorized by law to appear in any proceeding before a State or Federal court (except the United States Supreme Court) without compliance with admission requirements of such court (2 U.S.C. 130f(a)). Furthermore, the law requires the Attorney General to notify the General Counsel of its determination not to appeal a court decision affecting the constitutionality of an Act (2 U.S.C 130f(b)). |