NEW DINING ROOM AND CAFETERIA IN EAST FRONT EXTENSION

A new dining room on the ground floor, providing seating accommodations for 132 persons, and a new cafeteria on the basement floor, providing seating accommodations for 96 persons, are expected to be placed in operation in the House connection of the extended east front of the Capitol next January. The effect of this new operation in the House restaurant finances cannot be foreseen at this time and will have to be ascertained through actual operational experience. When the new cafeteria is placed in operation, the coffee shop in the House wing basement, which provides seating accommodations for 64 persons, will be removed from service.

Under the statute controlling operation of the House restaurants (54 Stat. 1056), a special deposit account is maintained for the House restaurants in the Treasury. All funds, including daily receipts, are deposited in and disbursed from the account by checks drawn on the Treasurer of the United States. The House restaurants' accounts are audited by the General Accounting Office.

The net loss for the fiscal year 1960 was $11,602, of which $4,176 represents net operating profit, offset by $659 for capital expenditures and $15,119 for Government contribution to retirement fund required by Public Law 854, 84th Congress.

During the first 8 months of the fiscal year 1961, the loss was $43,044, which included $10,603 for Government contribution to retirement fund required by Public Law 854, 84th Congress, and $1,961 for Government contribution to employees' health benefits fund required by Public Law 86-382, 86th Congress, which went into effect July 1, 1960. The total loss for the fiscal year 1961, including capital expenditures and Government contribution to the retirement and health benefits fund, is expected to amount to about $42,000.

As of March 1, 1961, the unobligated cash balance of the House restaurants was $119,178.

An appropriation of $60,000 is requested to meet the operating losses of the House restaurants for the fiscal year 1962.

A table showing a comparison of receipts, expenditures, and losses for the fiscal years 1947 to 1961 follows:

Table showing comparison of receipts, expenditures, and losses for the period 1947-61

PROPOSED INCREASE IN CONTRIBUTION

Mr. STEED. There is an increase in the amount requested this year. Will you discuss the reasons for that increase?

Mr. STEWART. Yes. This year the loss for the fiscal year 1961 up to March 1, 1961, was $43,044. I do not know whether additional restaurant facilities of the type we are going to put in the east front of the Capitol will increase our loss or help us break even. We do know in the last year or two our cafeteria and carryout stations are the ones that make the money. We will have a cafeteria and carryout station in the Capitol. However, we would like to be protected at least for the first year to see what the effects of the new restaurant facilities are and see if we cannot get the loss lower than the $60,000, but we would like to have $60,000 appropriated for 1962.

Mr. STEED. I believe the big improvement in the cafeteria operation came largely from the fact that having a better kitchen and pantry and more efficient setup made it possible for economies to develop that put it on a paying basis.

Under the Capitol arrangement here, will you have any advantages in that regard?

Mr. STEWART. Yes. We are consolidating the cafeteria underneath the new dining room so we can put the equipment rooms and related facilities back where the old coffee shop was. That should have a good effect.

Mr. Zmayuski is here and can tell you more about what he expects than I can.

Mr. STEED. The completion of that work will be so late in the coming fiscal year that you would not anticipate getting much advantage from it?

Mr. STEWART. Not until after the first of the year.

Mr. STEED. There will probably be a fiscal year wait before you get any benefit from it?

Mr. STEWART. We do not know if we will need another chef or what the impact will be. It would be based on the crowds in the carryout stations or in some of the private rooms.

Mr. STEED. One of the problems we have here and it is really a serious one is the need for rooms for State delegation luncheons. It is one thing to have a place to seat the Members and visitors just for lunch, but so many of the States are organized in State delegations who have frequent luncheon get-togethers that unless you have a room close to the floor it is pretty unhandy, the House meeting at noon as it does, to be accessible to the floor if something comes up. What will we be faced with when all this work is finished? Will that situation be improved any?

Mr. STEWART. Of course I do not know what the Speaker will do with the space. He allocates the space.

Mr. STEED. Can you give us some idea as to how limited you are in handling the demands and how many disappointments you have, and so forth?

Mr. ZMAYUSKI. For example, the other day we could have served another 100 persons if we had had the accommodations. An additional 132 seats in the new restaurant accommodations will help us considerably.

Mr. STEED. What about these delegation luncheons?

Mr. ZMAYUSKI. There we will not gain anything. We will still have the Speaker's dining room and Mr. Martin's dining room.

Mr. STEED. Are they the only two areas you have available?
Mr. ZMAYUSKI. Yes.

Mr. STEED. In the arrangement of the additional House Office Building, as I understand it there will be a cafeteria, also?

Mr. STEWART. There will be a combination cafeteria and dining room plus some private dining rooms to take care of what you are thinking about.

Mr. STEED. That will give some relief to what I am talking about. Mr. HORAN. That will be in the additional House Office Building?

Mr. STEWART. Yes, sir.
Mr. STEED. Off the record.
(Discussion off the record.)

REASONS FOR INCREASED DEFICIT

Mr. STEED. Can you give us some explanation of why the change in the deficit this time over last?

Mr. Roof. We had a pay increase of $23,000 authorized by Congress this year which we did not have last year, and the split session of Congress cost us $5,000. Mr. Zmayuski now has an assistant that he did not previously have, which costs about $7,500. If you add these amounts to the $11,000, it all comes to around $45,000.

Mr. STEED. Any further questions?

Mr. HORAN. You will have an enlarged cafeteria in the basement floor of the extension, will you not?

Mr. STEWART. Yes, sir.

Mr. STEED. Off the record.

(Discussion off the record.)

Mr. STEED. Thank you very much, Mr. Stewart and gentlemen.

TUESDAY, MAY 2, 1961.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

WITNESSES

RALPH R. ROBERTS, CLERK, U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
H. NEWLIN MEGILL, ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT TO THE CLERK
ROBERT H. HARPER, ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT TO THE CLERK
FOR BUDGET AND FINANCE

Mr. STEED. The committee will be in order. This morning the committee will take up the budget for the House of Representatives. We have with us today Mr. Ralph Roberts, the Clerk of the House and his assistants. Mr. Roberts, I believe you have a prepared statement. You may proceed with the presentation of it.

GENERAL STATEMENT

Mr. ROBERTS. Mr. Chairman, it is a pleasure to appear before your subcommittee again to present the legislative budget of the House of Representatives for fiscal year 1962. I shall present to you the budget from the various officers of the House as submitted to me by them, together with such justifications therefor as were submitted to me. I shall be glad to answer any questions I can relative to the figures presented by the other officers of the House, however, should you desire more specific information concerning any phase of any other office outside of the jurisdiction of the Clerk, I respectfully request that the appropriate officer under whose jurisdiction the activity comes be called personally before the subcommittee to answer in more detail.

Gentlemen, the budget which I present today for fiscal year 1962 is virtually the same as last year, with the exception that we have had to take into consideration certain resolutions adopted by the House increasing some salaries and in other instances creating new positions. In addition to the above item, you are familiar with the increase in base pay allowances available to each Member of the House for clerk hire.

The above items account for the increased appropriations requested, however, I shall touch on each one as we reach the appropriate section of the bill.

DETAILED ANALYSIS OF ESTIMATE FOR 1962

For the information of the committee, I desire to insert in the record a tabulated statement in support of the estimates (both original and revised), as submitted through the Bureau of the Budget, for the operation of the House of Representatives, fiscal year 1962. This statement gives a complete picture covering all estimates by paragraphs as appearing in the committee print.

Each member of the subcommittee has before him a copy of this statement, which breaks down and itemizes each position, or title thereof, by offices and departments, and reflects the number of employees involved; their basic and gross annual salaries, including increased or additional compensation as authorized by law.

Mr. STEED. This tabulation will be included in the record at this

(The tabulation follows:)

SALARIES, MILEAGE FOR MEMBERS, AND EXPENSE ALLOWANCE OF THE SPEAKER

SALARIES, OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES