REVISED - FEBRUARY 2, 1979 SALARIES, OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES 1980

30-02 Exec. Asst. to the Sgt. at Arms 30-04 Asst. Sgt. at Arms (vacant)

30-08 Deputy Sgt. at Arms (Dir. of Bank)

30-09 Director Members Retirement & Ins. 30-10 Asst. Operations Officer

30-11 Asst. Operations Officer

30-12 Admin. Ass't. to Bank Director

TOTAL

Overtime Estimate House Detail $1,000,000.00

SERGEANT-AT-ARMS STATEMENT

Mr. HARDING. I will ask Chief Powell and Mr. Raiden to accompany me at the table, if you will, please. If it is all right with you, Mr. Chairman, I will talk about my immediate office for the moment, and refer all questions pertaining to the police to the detailed report that the Chief has as part of his report to the subcommittee.

I am pleased to report, Mr. Chairman, that the amount requested by the Office of the Sergeant at Arms is the same as we requested last year, adjusted only to reflect the cost of living, the longevity or other statutory increases. All changes that have been made have been approved by the Committee on House Administration.

I am especially proud to report, Mr. Chairman, that even with the many additional duties required of the immediate Office of the Sergeant at Arms during the past year-and what I am referring to are the many special detailed reports involved in the preparation of materials for the various investigations that were going on concerning the Congress and had been requested by the courts and special committees. The workload for that was very, very heavybut by the willing support of the individual members of our staff, we did not request any additional employees for work, and we were able to absorb all that additional time without additional cost to the taxpayer.

Now that doesn't mean that the employees didn't work overtime, but we had no overtime provisions, and we try to make it up as best we can on a compensatory time basis.

No small amount of that accomplishment has to go to the credit of Mr. Elwyn Raiden, my Deputy Assistant. He is the Deputy Sergeant at Arms and bank operations, and I think all of us owe a great deal of gratitude to Mr. Raiden.

I would also like to make a part of the record if I may, Mr. Chairman, my personal thanks and appreciation to the other officers of the House for their fine cooperation that they have given to our office not only for them individually but for all the members of their staff. In my quite a few years around the Hill I have never seen a better spirit of cooperation among the officers of the House, all working together in the interests of the House of Representatives.

NO NEW EMPLOYEES IN IMMEDIATE OFFICE

As I mentioned, we are making no request for any additional employees or any basic changes in my office staff. The office staff has remained constant in the immediate office for over 10 years, and we have had a lot of new duties assigned to us. We have been able to take care of them. We foresee no changes in the future in this regard, with the possible exception that sooner or later we are going to have to better provide for absences and unexpected additional work loads. We are just too thin in our backup reserve. Mr. BENJAMIN. I hope it is later.

Mr. HARDING. I hope so too, sir.

With that, as I say in my statement, the only changes we have made have been those which have been referred to concerning the salaries and the time. I know that you will have questions referring to the overtime and everything which the Chief and I have

gone over carefully, and I might add, from the standpoint as a member of the Capitol Police Board and also as Sergeant at Arms of the House, that this overtime subject has been reviewed, reviewed, and reviewed, and if anyone has any further suggestions as to how we might draw it down, we certainly would like to hear it, but we think we have good and sufficient reason for what has been done. I will let the Chief report in detail as to the number of hours required for special events. This is where your real overtime comes from.

Mr. BENJAMIN. Before we get into that, Mr. Harding, let me thank you and Mr. Raiden for your excellent presentation and for not asking for any new employees and for maintaining the same level for 10 years. I think most of the members of this committee will agree that your office provides very excellent service and we are happy with it.

Mr. HARDING. Thank you.

OPENING STATEMENT OF CHIEF POWELL

Mr. BENJAMIN. I wonder if there are any questions on the two accounts before we get to the police, the compensation and my handling of members in the Sergeant at Arms Office, before we get to Chief Powell?

Chief Powell, before we get into the overtime question, which is obviously a question of the subcommittee, you have submitted a statement to us. I am going to include that in the record. It is a statement of James M. Powell, Chief, U.S. Capitol Police, to the Subcommittee on Legislative Appropriations for the appropriations hearing for fiscal year 1980.

Would you please summarize that statement or give any additional comments you want and then we will get into the questions. [The information follows:]

27 Feb. 197Ï

APC: 8083

106A

STATEMENT OF JAMES M. POWELL

CHIEF, UNITED STATES CAPITOL POLICE

TO THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON LEGISLATIVE BRANCH APPROPRIATIONS
UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FOR THE APPROPRIATIONS HEARINGS FOR FISCAL YEAR 1980

Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the opportunity to appear before your committee regarding the budget recommendations for the United States Capitol Police for both the remainder of Fiscal Year 1979 and Fiscal Year 1980.

The amount requested for the Capitol Police operational expenditures for fiscal 1980 is $809,500.00 as compared with $750,100.00 for fiscal 1979.

This proposed budget for fiscal 1980 reflects an increase of approximately 7.33% due to the prevalent

increases in costs of items purchased and services rendered. No major changes or new programs have been included in this request.

In brief summation, the proposed operational budget for fiscal 1980 is as follows:

$35,500.00

OFFICE EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES

Basically, the additional funds

allocated to this item are to
provide for increased daily
operational expenses. Increases

for rental equipment and supplies

are attributable to this additional

expense.