SUMMARY OF ASSIGNMENTS OF PERSONNEL TO CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES-FISCAL YEAR 1967

Subcommittee on Department of Agriculture and Related Agencies.

Subcommittee on Departments of State, Justice, Commerce, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies.

Subcommittee on Foreign Aid Expenditures.

Committee on the Judiciary: Subcommittee on Administrative Practice and Procedure.

Select Committee on Standards and Conduct.

Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce: Special Subcommittee on Investigations.

Committee on Post Office and Civil Service.

Select Committee Pursuant to House Resolution 1-90th Congress.

Select Committee on Small Business: Subcommittee on Small Business and Government Procurement.
House Office Building Commission.

1 The correct figure is $444.24 which has now been paid (see page 43).

$495, 20

$495, 20

$495.20

1,067.92

GAO AUDIT OF LEGISLATIVE BRANCH

Senator BARTLETT. We can go into that bye and bye. Do you audit Federal expenditures in the legislative branch?

Mr. STAATS. I would like to respond in two ways to that and Mr. Keller and Mr. Weitzel can add to that. We have statutory responsibility for auditing the accounts of the Architect of the Capitol. This was enacted in the 1964 Appropriation Act.

Mr. KELLER. The Legislative Branch Appropriation Act of 1965 placed the audit of the Architect of the Capitol on the same basis as our audit of the executive departments and agencies.

Senator BARTLETT. And how is that moving?

Mr. KELLER. We think it is working out very well. The law also requires that our reports of audits of the Architect be printed as Senate documents.

Senator BARTLETT. You audit no other function within the legislative branch?

Mr. KELLER. Yes, sir, we do audit a number of activities in the legislative branch. We audit on a selective basis salaries and allowances, Senators' salaries and expenses of officers and employees of the Senate, the Senate Restaurant, the recording studio, and the barber and beauty shops. On the House side the salaries and expenses of Members and employees, the finance office, the recording studio, the House Restaurant, the Sergeant at Arms, and stationery room revolving fund. Some of these audits are required by statute, others we do by request. I might add that payments from the contingent fund are final as a matter of law when they have been properly approved. So our audit is limited, in that area.

Senator BARTLETT. You don't go beyond the certification.

Mr. KELLER. No, sir; as a practical matter we are precluded at that point; that is, upon proper approval of the Members. I will be glad to supplement the record if you wish.

Senator BARTLETT. No, I don't think that will be necessary. How about the Library of Congress? Do you audit that agency?

Mr. KELLER. Yes, we do, and also the Government Printing Office.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IMPROVEMENTS

Senator BARTLETT. What recommendations have you made for improvements in the legislative branch which have not been placed into operation? Perhaps you can't answer that immediately.

Mr. KELLER. I would like to submit that for the record, Mr. Chair.

man.

(The information follows:)

We have no open recommendations on legislative branch audits.

COMPARABILITY OF HIGHER LEVEL SALARIES WITH PRIVATE INDUSTRY

Senator BARTLETT. On the higher levels after your recruits move into other than junior status, how do your salaries compare with people doing like work in private industry?

Mr. STAATS. Well, if you are talking about the very top levels, we are in a situation where I think most agencies find themselves, that is, we

are below the salaries being paid in private industry. The principle of comparability which has been established as a matter of policy by the Congress, of course, when fully implemented should put most of our people on an equal basis or generally equally basis.

This still would not apply to the people at the so-called supergrade levels. The comparability principle carries only through grade 15, and as to the positions at grade 16, 17, 18, and any others fixed by the Executive pay schedules, there has been no effort to provide comparability between Government and comparable jobs in private industry. Above grade 15 we would not expect to be at the same level at any time as jobs with comparable responsibility in private industry. Senator BARTLETT. Far below?

Mr. STAATS. Substantially below. This data gets out of date. The most recent information on an overall comprehensive basis that we have goes back to 1964. At that time the differential was very substantial.

We have recently inquired with respect to financial positions outside of Government as to whether the Civil Service Commission or the Budget Bureau had more recent information and find that they do not have. We are obviously interested in this matter from the standpoint of our own internal salary schedules.

INCREASE IN NUMBER OF SUPERGRADE POSITIONS

We have asked Congress for an increase in the number of grades 16, 17 and 18 to be allotted to GAO.

Senator BARTLETT. How many do you have now?

Mr. STAATS. We have 64 as of now and we have asked Congress for 26 additional, making a total of 90.

Senator BARTLETT. What do these grades that you mentioned mean in terms of annual salary at the beginning?

Mr. STAATS. At the grade of 16 the salary level presently is $20,982 starting salary, and goes up to $26,574, grade 17 starts at $23,788 and goes to a total of $26,960, and grade 18 is at $27,055, which is a flat

amount.

Senator BARTLETT. No raises there in grade 18?

Mr. STAATS. No.

Senator BARTLETT. You finish with the same salary with which you start? Mr. STAATS. Yes.

NEW APPROPRIATION LANGUAGE

Senator BARTLETT. Mr. Staats, will you explain the purpose of the new bill language you are requesting, which is found on page 159 of the subcommittee print and reads, and I quote:

Not to exceed $6,000 for purchase of one-passenger motor vehicle for replace ment only; advance payments in foreign countries not withstanding Section 3648. Revised Statutes, as amended (31 U.S.C. 529); and rental of living quarters in foreign countries under regulations prescribed by the Comptroller General of the United States; . .

Mr. SIMMONS. Mr. Chairman, I have a page covering these language changes. I could read this to you or insert it for the record. Would you like me to read it?

Senator BARTLETT. Yes, please.

REPLACEMENT OF AUTOMOBILE

Mr. SIMMONS. First, with relation to the car, we wish to replace the automobile which we use in Washington for transportation between our office and other agencies of Government or the Congress. In fiscal year 1969 this vehicle will be over six and a half years old and, according to GSA schedules and the increasing cost of maintenance, should be replaced.

Senator BARTLETT. What kind of a car will that give you?
Mr. SIMMONS. That will give a medium sedan car.

Senator BARTLETT. $6,000 is it?

Mr. SIMMONS. Yes, sir.

Senator PROXMIRE. How many thousand dollars?

Mr. SIMMONS. About $6,000. That is the GSA quoted price. Senator BARTLETT. Shouldn't they give you something better than medium size, medium-priced car?

Senator PROXMIRE. What type of a car is this? Is it a regular passenger car?

Mr. SIMMONS. Yes, sir, a four-door sedan, perhaps a Cadillac or Chrysler, maybe the size of the New Yorker, something like that.

Senator BARTLETT. Well, I am still a little puzzled; $6,000 is about the retail price for some of the bigger cars.

Mr. STAATS. The language is "not to exceed $6,000." This is the standard limitation that is being included in the budget for other agencies, as I understand, Mr. Chairman.

Senator BARTLETT. I am not quarreling with your figure except I am a little bit puzzled by it.

Mr. SIMMONS. We called GSA on this to be sure before we put the money in the language. We didn't want to ask for too much.

Senator BARTLETT. That ought to get a good one at Government price. I am sure it will.

Mr. SIMMONS. It could.

Senator BARTLETT. And it will.

I don't say you shouldn't have it. Maybe you need two or three of them, for all I know. Is this chaffeur-driven?

Mr. SIMMONS. By different chauffeurs, yes.

VEHICLE EQUIPMENT

Senator PROXMIRE. Do you have a radio in it and that kind of stuff and you can talk on the telephone?

Mr. SIMMONS. Yes, sir.

Senator PROXMIRE. Is that kind of equipment expensive?

Mr. SIMMONS. That is extra. You mean the two-way telephone?
Senator PROXMIRE. Yes.

Mr. SIMMONS. We pay that directly to the phone company. There is an installation charge on it also. I don't recall exactly what it is. Senator PROXMIRE. There is no extra equipment other than that? Mr. SIMMONS. No, sir. Standard things, air conditioning, power steering, power brakes.

Senator PROXMIRE. No bar?

Mr. SIMMONS. No bar. As a matter of fact, the car we have now, which will be over 62 years old when replaced, cost us $5,200 at the time of purchase.

Senator BARTLETT. What kind is that?

Mr. SIMMONS. It is a Cadillac, four-door, hardtop.

Senator BARTLETT. Well, my car is 7 years old. I mean the maintenance charges are very low on it to this day. It is personally driven and I am not going to mention the make, because that might throw my colleagues from Detroit into confusion and affect the balance of payments.

All right, if you want to continue.

Mr. SIMMONS. All right, sir.

ADVANCE PAYMENT OVERSEAS

Next, going on with the language changes, we are asking for language permitting advance payments oversea. This provision was in our appropriation language several years ago when we had offices in Paris and Toyko. When we moved these offices to Frankfurt, where we use Government-owned offices and quarters, and Hawaii, we felt the language was superfluous and we asked for deletion of the provision. Currently, however, we have new suboffices in Saigon, Manila, and New Delhi and we again find it necessary because of foreign business practices in these areas to ask for reinstatement of this provision.

FURNISHING OVERSEA QUARTERS

Finally, we are asking for specific language permitting the furnishing of quarters to our employees oversea instead of paying their quarters allowances and moving their household goods. The current practice of Federal agencies is to provide furnished quarters to employees stationed in Saigon, Manila, and New Delhi.

Individuals find it very difficult to secure adequate housing on the market at these locations because the facilities offered, such as the electrical wiring and hot water, are generally below the needs of the employee and his family. Also, the usual furniture an employee has is not adaptable to the humid climate found at these locations. We had to buy, for example, rattan furniture. That is the only thing that will hold up. We believe that, in the long term, it will be more economical for us to provide furnished quarters for employees at these locations rather than pay their quarters allowances and moving their household goods to and from these locations.

We checked this out carefully.

READING LAMP IN AUTOMOBILE

Senator BARTLETT. Will the $6,000 for the car provide for a reading lamp?

Mr. SIMMONS. No, sir. It is not included.

Senator BARTLETT. You are going to have to have that installed at whatever expense because no Government official in Washington to which a chauffeur is assigned is permitted to be without a reading light in his car, when he goes home at night. It is presumed that he goes home very late, of course; when it is not light.

Mr. STAATS. This car is not used for personal use. This car is used only to bring us up here and for other similar purposes.