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Staff and Support Agencies

Staff and Support Agencies. Chapter 5: The Organization of Congress. Congressional Staff Role. Staff members do most of the important work on legislation Lawmakers rely on their staff for: Handling the growing workload of Congress Communicating with voters Helping with committee hearings

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Staff and Support Agencies

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  1. Staff and Support Agencies Chapter 5: The Organization of Congress

  2. Congressional Staff Role • Staff members do most of the important work on legislation • Lawmakers rely on their staff for: • Handling the growing workload of Congress • Communicating with voters • Helping with committee hearings • Drafting new bills • Helping with reelection

  3. Congressional Staff Growth

  4. Personal Staff • Personal Staff members work directly for individual senators and representatives. • Both houses receive an allowance for staff. • Lawmakers can hire and fire staff members at will. • Administrative Assistants (AA): • The AA runs the lawmaker’s office, supervises the lawmaker’s schedule and gives advice on political matters. • Deals with important people from lawmaker’s district or state.

  5. Personal Staff • Legislative Assistants (LA): • Makes certain the lawmaker is well informed about the many bills with which she or he must deal. • Also assist with committee meetings & track the work that is taking place on the floor. • Caseworkers: • Staff members that handle the requests from people in the lawmaker’s state or district.

  6. Committee Staff • Every committee and subcommittee in Congress has staff members. • Committee staffers: • Draft bills -- study issues • Collect info --write memos • Plan hearings --write reports • Too much power?

  7. Support Agencies • The Library of Congress • Created in 1800 • One of the largest libraries in the world • Contains more than 100 million items • Including: books, journals, music, films, photos, & maps • Congressional Budget Office (CBO) • Established 1974 • Coordinates the budget-making work of Congress

  8. Library of Congress

  9. Support Agencies • General Accounting Office (GAO) • Established 1921 • Nation’s watchdog over spending of funds Congress appropriates. • Government Printing Office (GPO) • The largest multi-purpose printing plant in the world, prints for the entire federal government • Prints: Statistical Abstract of the United States every year since 1878. • Also, Congressional Record (daily)

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