Senator YARBOROUGH. It is the constitutent inquiries. Mr. JAYSON. The constituent inquiries fall to a relatively less significant figure during the summer. During the summer we are faced with vacations and the staff gets a lot thinner at that time. SPEECH-WRITING REQUESTS Senator BARTLETT. It is a well-known fact and acknowledged universally, I guess, that every Member of the Congress, whether the House or Senate, writes his own speeches. Do you have many inquiries from Members for speeches to be written by other than Members? Mr. JAYSON. If we had any requests for speeches for other than Members, we would decline. Senator BARTLETT. I mean where the Member makes the requests. Mr. JAYSON. If I were told by someone on a Member's staff that this is for a friend of mine, and not for the Member himself, we would decline to accept the request, because we are here only to work for the Member. Senator BARTLETT. If the request comes from a Member, without any qualifications, is the speech written? Mr. JAYSON. Yes. One of the services we provide is the preparation of certain types of speech drafts. But we do not do this for anyone other than a Member. If a Member requests a draft of a statement we would take care of it. We would not know if it were really for someone other than the Member. Senator BARTLETT. Do you do this occasionally? ILLEGITIMATE REQUESTS Mr. JAYSON. When you are dealing with figures of over 100,000 requests a year, we assume that there is some small percentage of times where someone on a Member's staff uses us for personal use, but numberwise, it must be very small. Occasionally, we do find by making inquiry, that the request is not legitimate in that sense, and we decline to accept it. Senator BARTLETT. I have been illegitimate then. Years and years ago, I requested the Legislative Reference Service to write me a speech when I was delegate in the Congress from Alaska on Seward Bay. Of course, I was a mere delegate so it was all right for me to make a speech and it was written by the Legislative Reference Service. Mr. JAYSON. It is entirely appropriate for a delegate to use us. Senator BARTLETT. I did. Mr. MUMFORD. That is not quite in the category of a banker asking you to have a speech written for him. Senator BARTLETT. I make this speech every few years. I made it the other day again. JUSTIFICATIONS If there is no objection, we will place in the record at this point the justifications relating to the Legislative Reference Service. (The justifications follows:) Fiscal year 1967 requires the payment of salary funds for one day in excess of the stated annual rates or a total of 261 days. Fiscal 1968 will have only 260 days. INCREASES $10, 726 2. Ingrade increases and other anticipated increases in salary costs---- $42, 481 Funds are requested to cover the cost of within-grade increases as follows: Salaries Personnel benefits. Total 3. New positions (46). To meet an increase in workload resulting from a growth in 1 GS-17; 1 GS-15; 3 GS-13; 2 GS-12; 7 GS-11; 7 Contribution to retirement___ Contribution to health insurance_ Group life insurance__. Total Total increases $39, 743 2, 738 42, 481 $378, 045 $351, 712 22, 861 2,300 1,172 378, 045 +420, 526 Net increases +409, 800 FUNCTION OF THE LEGISLATIVE REFERENCE SERVICE The Legislative Reference Service is the department of the Library devoted exclusively to providing information, research, and reference materials to Members and Committees of Congress, and their staffs, to assist them in their legislative responsibilities. Because it is a research arm of the Congress, the work product takes many forms. Members can turn to LRS for preparation of background reports on legislative problems; for analytical studies of public issues; for legal opinions; for pro and con arguments; for comparisons of bills; for legislative histories; for surveys of court decisions; for tabulations of statistics; for aid in speech drafts; for newspaper searches; for spot factual information; for translations; for the preparation of charts, graphs and maps; for historical data for personal consultations with subject specialists; for assistance with committee hearings and committee work; for assistance in answering constituent inquiries; and for other kinds of services. The bulk of these services are furnished through seven subject-matter divisions: American Law, Economics, Education and Public Welfare, Foreign Affairs, Government and General Research, Natural Resources, and Science Policy Re 79-312-67 search. Under specific authorization of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946, senior specialists are also available for high-level research and consultative services in the following fields: international economics, international relations, American government and public administration, conservation, American public law, labor, engineering and public works, agriculture, price economics, national defense, social welfare, and science and technology. During fiscal 1966, LRS answered 117,062 Congressional inquiries, an all-time high. The number of inquiries in fiscal 1967 is estimated at 125,000, and in 1968, 130,000. In addition to providing research and analysis, LRS prepares the Digest of Public General Bills and Resolutions. Published biweekly, the Digest provides a brief summary of the essential features of public bills and resolutions and changes made therein during the legislative process, and other related information. It is expected that the number of bills to be digested during the first session of the 90th Congress will be somewhat higher than the number digested for the first session of the 89th Congress. The LRS also maintains unique reference files containing clippings, pamphlets and published documents, as the basis for reply to a high percentage of inquiries; researchers are supplied with bibliographic and reference tools; selective and comprehensive bibliographies are prepared for Members and Committees of Congress; and reader services are provided by the Congressional Reading Room. During 1966, 116.813 reference file items were selected, processed, and added to the collection, 32,161 bibliographic citations prepared, 150,768 published items acquired and processed, and 6,272 readers served. BACKGROUND: THE TWO YEAR PROGRAM At the last year's budget presentation the Service reported that demands upon its staff from Congressional offices for research assistance had reached extraordinary and unprecedented levels during the preceding calendar year: that during calendar 1965, a total of 113,628 inquiries were answered, representing an increase of 20,691 or 22 percent over calendar 1964; that Member inquiries had risen 34 percent over the previous calendar year, and that constituent inquiries had gone up 13 percent. During the past calendar year, 1966, the percentage rate of increase tapered off, but the total volume of inquiries handled was even larger than 1965: a total of 114,037 inquiries were answered in the period January through December 1966. The reason that reference is made to calendar year totals is that the workload of the Legislative Reference Service is largely a reflection of the workload of Congress itself, and Congressional workload is more readily understood in terms of its sessions which open at the beginning of the calendar year. But the increase in LRS workload is also unprecedented when viewed in terms of fiscal year volume: during fiscal 1966, the Service answered 117,062 inquiries, an increase of 17.230 or 17 percent above fiscal 1965 (when 99,832 inquiries were answered). The 1966 total was 20 percent above fiscal 1964 (when 97,444 inquiries were answered). The sharp rise of the past two years over 1964 came on top of a steady growth in volume and workload during the preceding 15 years. Throughout that period. the growth in volume of inquiries far outpaced the growth in staff. The impact on the Service has been overwhelming. Heavy arrearages throughout the year in all of the divisions, backlogs in individual researcher's assignments throughout the Service, the necessity, too often, of preparing superficial reports instead of performing research in depth because of lack of time and manpower, frequently having to send books and materials when research reports were needed by Congressional offices, the dilution of senior research time by an overflow of constituent inquiries, complaints about decline in quality of response to inquiries brought on by the demands of quantity-these were some of the unfortunate results. The Service's problems and workload were the subject of a broad and intensive examination in connection with hearings before the Joint Committee on the Organization of Congress. They were also discussed before the Appropriations Committees during the last budget presentation. At that time, the Service reported that it needed a minimum of 300 budgeted positions to meet a workload equivalent to that which existed during fiscal 1965, and it sought the Appropriation Committees' approval to undertake a two-year program, beginning in fiscal 1967, to bring the staff up to this strength. The Committees authorized an increase of 35 positions, from 223 to 258 budgeted positions for the first year. The Service is now requesting 46 additional positions, so that upon completion of the two-year program the total staff would number 304 budgeted positions. In explaining the need for the two-year program the Service discussed the dimensions of its current workload and the consequent problems mentioned above, and also noted that the subject range of legislative issues on which the Service must provide research and assistance has become broader and more complex requiring new and different types of staff specialization; that the difficulties in providing meaningful assistance to Congressional offices have become intensified by a greatly increased insistence upon rush and short-deadline work, draft statements, personalized and tailor-made reports, and assistance with constituent inquiries; that in previous years it had absorbed heavier workloads by devising new techniques and procedures for more effective handling of inquiries; but that, if the Service is to continue to provide the different types of assistance it now offers to Members and Committees of Congress and still achieve the high level of quality and timely performance that Congress requires, based on the then current workload it would need a staff of at least 300 budgeted positions. A twoyear program was suggested so as to allow sufficient time for recruitment and training of qualified professional and clerical personnel. Since last year the demands of the Congress upon the Service for research and informational assistance have not lessened, the workload has continued at a record-level, and the problems previously described still prevail. In fact, the volume of inquiries received during the first 22 months of the First Session of the 90th Congress forecasts an even higher total for the current year. By midMarch 1967 there were several occasions on which the Service received more than 800 inquiries in a single day and more than 3,000 inquiries during a single week. Never in the history of the Service have the inquiries accumulated at such a rate. INCREASED WORKLOAD The sharp increase in workload since 1964 is indicated in Table I. This shows a month-by-month comparison of total inquiries cleared by the Service during calendar years 1964, 1965 and 1966. Eleven of the 12 months of 1965 showed an exceptional increase over the corresponding month of the previous year. This increase continued into 1966. It is significant from the point of view of overall increase in workload that a comparison of the 1966 monthly totals with 1964 shows that there was a very substantial increase in every month of the year; during 9 of those 12 months the increase ranged from 19 to 45 percent greater than the prior corresponding month. It is the increase over the 1964 workload that provides one of the bases for the two-year program to strengthen staff. TABLE I.—Inquiries cleared, calendar years 1964, 1965, and 1966 The authorization for additional staff for the current year came relatively late. Most of the newly authorized personnel was not on hand during the summer and fall months of the past year (where declines in clearances are reflected in Table I) by which time the Service had to negotiate downward the intake and scope of inquiries because of its inability to handle them adequately. When new staff members were added, the Service utilized their resources to meet Congressional concern for better quality and more depth in research and for quicker response. These are factors which are not covered by the statistics. Member inquiries and inquiries requiring written responses are reliable guides to substantive workload. Table II provides a breakdown of the types of responses employed by the Service in answering inquiries during calendar 1964, 1965 and 1966. In 1965, Member inquiries were up 34 percent over 1964; in 1966 they were up 5 percent over 1965; the 1966 total was 41 percent greater than 1964. In 1965, total written responses were up 32 percent over 1964; in 1966 they fell 4 percent below 1965, but the 1966 total was 27 percent greater than 1964. TABLE II.-Types of responses, calendar years 1964, 1965, and 1966 During fiscal 1966, every Member of the House, every Member of the Senate, and every Standing Committee used the Service. They received answers to 117,062 inquiries, an all-time high. Of these, 55,979 (48 percent of the total) were for direct use by Members and Committees; some 83.1 percent of the Service's total research and reference time was employed in responding to them. Constituent inquiries numbered 61,083 (52 percent of the total), but required only 16.9 percent of the total research time. The bulk of constituent inquiries are handled at the lowest grade levels of the Service's research staff. An analysis of the total inquiries, which were up 17 percent over the previous fiscal year. reveals that the rate of increase was greater for Members than for constituent inquiries: Member inquiries were up 26 percent over the previous year, constituent inquiries were up 10 percent. Table III shows the frequency of use of the Service by Members, indicating the averages and medians for fiscal years 1964, 1965 and 1966, and reflecting a significant increase during the three year period. TABLE III.-Inquiries-Averages and medians 1 Figures for fiscal 1964 are not strictly comparable due to change in computing "spot inquiries" (telephone inquiries answered immediately). |