CONGRESSIONAL RESEARCH SUPPORT AND INFORMATION SERVICES HEARINGS BEFORE THE JOINT COMMITTEE ON CONGRESSIONAL OPERATIONS NINETY-THIRD CONGRESS SECOND SESSION THURSDAY, MAY 16; TUESDAY, JUNE 18; WEDNESDAY, 38-392 Printed for the use of the Joint Committee on Congressional Operations U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON: 1974 CONTENTS Jayson, Lester S., director, Congressional Research Service... Response to Representative James C. Cleveland's question on tele- Gordon, Kermit, president, Brookings Institution.... Appendix to statement, services to Congress provided by Brookings Seamans, Dr. Robert C., Jr., president, National Academy of Engineering-- Statutory authorization for studies by the National Academy of Page Staats, Hon. Elmer B., Comptroller General of the United States_ Appendix to statement of Elmer B. Staats, Comptroller General of the Kennedy, Hon. Edward M., U.S. Senator from Massachusetts- Annual Report to the Congress by the Office of Technology Assess- Royce, Richard, consultant to the House Committee on Public Works_-- Lists of Advisory Panels: Senate Public Works Committee, 91st Congress House Public Works, 93d Congress__. Widner, Ralph R., director, Academy for Contemporary Problems- Correspondence on "Congressional Research Support and Information Response of Comptroller General Elmer B. Staats to Senator Lee Metcalf's Legislation enacted during fiscal year 1960 through fiscal year 1974 relating to the General Accounting Office.. Congressional Decisionmaking for National Security issued by Committee Strategic Policy Assessment: Activities and Prospects by Clement Bezold, a paper prepared for the Commission on Critical Choices for Americans.. U.S. SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Washington, D.C. The Joint Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10 a.m., in the Dirksen Office Building, Hon. Lee Metcalf, chairman, presiding. Present: Senator Metcalf and Representatives Giaimo and Cleveland. Chairman METCALF. The Joint Committee on Congressional Operations is holding these hearings to assess present and future needs. for information support for the Congress. We will be inviting testimony from users as well as suppliers of policy research and other information services. We expect to hear not only from the congressional agencies, but from other governmental agencies, the academic community, private research organizations as well. We also hope to hear from the broadest possible cross section of Members of the House and Senate who have suggestions for improving congressional information capability. and Our hearing today will focus on Congressional Research Service performance of responsibilities assigned to it by the 1970 act. Subsequent hearings, to be held in June and July, will deal with the availability of policy analysis and related research support from sources outside the Government, with program evaluation and the responsibilities of GAO in this area, with the functions of the new Office of Technology Assessment, and with automatic data processing applications in the Congress. A major objective of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970, for example, was to strengthen congressional information capability. The committees were allowed additional staff and, together with the congressional research agencies, were authorized to employ consultants and contract for research support. The then newly designated Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress was directed to supply to the committees "massive aid in policy analysis," to assist them in examining and evaluating legislative proposals and alternatives. GAO's new responsibilities included (1) assistance to Congress and the committees in evaluating results of ongoing Federal programs and activities, and (2) serving as agent of Congress in development within the executive of improved systems for reporting fiscal, budgetary, and program data and information. Other enactments since 1970 have been designed to further extend our information reach. Two years ago we created a new Office of Technology Assessment, and this Office is presently beginning to |