Mr. CRAFT. As far as I am aware there is none at this point. Mr. HORAN. Do you have a tabulation showing bills that have been prepared by your office for various departments of Government?

Mr. CRAFT. No; we do not. Actually, we work only pursuant to requests of committees and Members of the House. These requests frequently involve working on proposals suggested by departments and agencies in the executive branch of the Government. It is hard to judge by using figures what kind of job we did.

It may be a bill a department has sent to the Speaker asking that it be introduced and the chairman of the committee to which the request was referred has asked the staff to bring it down to us to see if it is ready for introduction. Many times there are little formal things we can do to help. Other times, of course, we may spend weeks or months on a job.

Mr. HORAN. That is all, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. STEED. Thank you, Mr. Craft. We appreciate the very fine report you made.

I think we will have to recess now until 2:30 this afternoon.

CLERK HIRE, MEMBERS AND RESIDENT COMMISSIONER

Mr. ROBERTS. For clerk hire necessary for employees of each Member and the Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico in the discharge of their official and representative duties, $20,400,000, the same as appropriated for 1962. Our estimate is based largely upon experience, although we have no way of knowing exactly how much may be used. The precise amount requested depends upon the salaries designated by the Members to their staffs within the limitation of the law.

As of February 28, 1962, the Members were employing 3,071 clerks at the gross salary of $1,240,495, while under the law 4,041 clerks could be employed. Of this latter number, 99 Members with a constituency of over 500,000 could employ 10 clerks each whereas all other Members are limited to 9 clerks.

(NOTE. AS later indicated herein, the correct gross monthly figure for February 28 is $1,598,926.)

Mr. STEED. Mr. Roberts, you have not had a final report on the reallocation of the seats in Congress by virtue of the 1960 census so that you could have a new figure or whether there will be 99 Members with a constituency of over 500,000, have you?

Mr. ROBERTS. No; I could not answer that, Mr. Chairman. We will get to that just as soon as possible. We have asked the Bureau of the Census to start working on that.

Mr. STEED. I understand that at least one or two of the States have not completed their redistricting on the basis of the 1960 census. What would be the situation in the case of a State which for some reason or other did not redistrict and required their Members to run at large?

Mr. ROBERTS. They would all have a constituency of over 500,000. Mr. STEED. Is that the situation we will be faced with in some States?

Mr. ROBERTS. Alabama is an example of that, and Arkansas, and maybe Massachusetts.

Mr. STEED. I was sure the uncertainty in at least one or two of the States at this time would not allow you to finalize the figures as of this time.

Mr. HARPER. After the last census it took several years. Whenever we had a Member at large we considered he would be entitled to the higher allowance.

Mr. MEGILL. Another problem, Mr. Chairman, with States like California getting eight additional Representatives, and now have districts entitled to the allowance for a constituency of over 500,000 some of which will drop below that figure. There is no expressed method of removing the allowance in such cases.

Mr. STEED. I believe last year you told us that about 350 Members were not using the total number of clerks or the total amount they were allowed under the law. Do you have any figure at this time in regard to that?

Mr. HARPER. Yes. In the early part of this Congress an additional clerk was allowed each Member and an additional $3,000 base was added to his basic clerk-hire allowance. But, as of February 28, only 25 Members of the 99 who are entitled to the greater allowance are using the full allowance available to them. Of the 339 who are entitled to the lesser amount, only 83 are using the full amount available to them. So there is a substantial number of Members in both categories who are not using the full allowance available to them. Mr. STEED. This figures does change from month to month? Mr. HARPER. Yes, sir.

Mr. MEGILL. It might be interesting to indicate that the population of the Nation now would support the average district as 412,000, which is approaching 500,000, which would give that additional allowance automatically to all Members.

Mr. HARPER. To complete the picture on the number of clerks, last year I told you that as of February 28 we had 2,617 clerks on the roll. This year as of the same date we have 3,071, or an increase of 454 in the 12 months.

Mr. STEED. You give us a monthly figure as of February 28 of $1,240,495, which would make an annual rate of $14,885,940. Would you consider that would be probably as low as the monthly rate would go? Mr. HARPER. It fluctuates, Mr. Steed, and I would hazard a guess that during this coming summer and fall that clerk-hire expenditures will increase because you are entering into a campaign.

Mr. STEED. Are you sure this figure of $1,240,495 is correct? (NOTE. AS later indicated herein, the correct gross monthly figure for February 28 is $1,598,926.)

Mr. HARPER. It runs on an average of about $1.5 million a month; $1,240,495 is low.

Mr. ROBERTS. That is for 1 month, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. STEED. As of February 28 that was the rate, and it could well change?

Mr. HARPER. Yes. For instance for fiscal 1961 you appropriated $18.122.500 and we spent $17,346,000, so we were pretty close to it. At the present time we are running at the rate of about $1.5 million a month. This particular month just happened to be a low month. Mr. STEED. We wanted to make sure about that figure because it did not seem to figure out as a normal one-twelfth.

Mr. HARPER. This was taken off the February payroll. It is subject to error. But I do know we are spending about $1.5 million a

month for clerk hire.

Mr. STEED. Can you give us the total amount expended so far in this year's budget on this item?

Mr. HARPER. Yes, sir. We had $20,400,000 appropriated and we have already spent $12,654,000 and we have $7,745,000 left.

Mr. STEED. As of what date?

Mr. HARPER. February 28. We have a little better than $7.5 million left and we have 4 months to go.

Mr. STEED. That still would be adequate if your average is $1.5 million a month.

Mr. HARPER. Yes. I will have to check this figure of $1,240,495, because it is a low figure. I know it is running at about $1.5 million a month.

Mr. STEED. Does the fact the membership goes back to 435 as against the 438 now prevailing make any substantial difference in any of these items?

Mr. HARPER. No, sir; I do not think so. We try to have a sufficient amount and we like to have a little leeway so that if we have a decrease there would be a little more surplus.

Mr. STEED. Perhaps it would help if you could give the figures for the 2 prior years as to the surplus left at the end of the years. It might be a guide that would be helpful.

Mr. HARPER. I have stated that in 1961 we spent $17,346,000, so we had very little surplus.

The year prior to that the surplus was a little less. I will supply the figure in the record of $16,300,000 appropriated, $15,700,795.06, leaving a surplus of $599,204.94.

Mr. STEED. It does not seem to be indicated, though, that the figure will be as large this year as last year?

Mr. HARPER. The surplus will not be as large.

(NOTE. The figure of $1,240,495 for February clerk hire carried in the Clerk's statement represents the net amount of the payroll after the various deductions. The total amount expended in February for clerk hire was $1,598,926.37.)

Mr. HARPER. There is a substantial leeway. I ran the figures on the average but this does not apply to each individual Member. The average Member has about $4,000 a month clerk hire. Actually, on the average, they are spending in the neighborhood of $3,000 a month and it is impossible for us to predict just what the Members will do, coming up for an election year. There is a workload increase and they are adding new clerks. They have the space available and we have to outguess a little bit.

Mr. STEED. It is an item over which we have no direct control.

Mr. HARPER. Unless we ask you for the maximum amount, which would be unrealistic in the light of our past experience.

Mr. STEED. We will take up the next item.

CONTINGENT FUND

Mr. ROBERTS. We shall now take up the various items in the contingent fund.

FURNITURE

The first item covers the furniture and repair department. For furniture, materials, and repair of same, including labor; tools; material and supplies for the repair shops; purchase of new furniture. and equipment; trunks, or so-called packing boxes; rugs or carpets; cleaning and repairing of same; we have submitted an estimate of $262,550 for the fiscal year 1963, compared with $242,550 appropriated for 1962, or an increase of $20,000.

We are requesting this increase to provide for the purchase of new furniture and equipment which we anticipate will be needed to accommodate the 438 new clerks provided for in House Resolution 219, adopted March 15, 1961, and the opening of additional space in the George Washington Inn.

Our budget for 1963 is based on $150,050 for gross salaries of employees of the furniture and repair shop; $13,200 for supplies and materials; $67,000 for the purchase of furniture and equipment; $2,000 for cleaning, repair work, and remaking of old rugs; $15,000 for the purchase of new carpet; $9,700 for the purchase of trunks, or so-called packing boxes, for the 1st session of the 88th Congress; $5,400 for the purchase of new drapery material, drapery supplies, and sewing; $200 for handling of insect extermination work.

Mr. STEED. We were told this morning that some additional space has been occupied in the George Washington Inn and there is still some remaining that may be taken up.

Can you give us an idea of how much unused space there is there, that might be used?

Mr. ROBERTS. Up until the last 2 years we only occupied about two floors but now all five floors are occupied. We are just refinishing and refurnishing 22 rooms on the fifth floor of the George Washington Inn.

Mr. STEED. Since these new clerks you speak of were authorized last year, have they been pretty well taken care of or do you anticipate a continued demand as a result of that?

Mr. ROBERTS. We do not know. The first 3 months of this year there has been an increase and when the resolution for an extra clerk was passed many of the Members did not take advantage of it last summer or fall when this session started but in January they started putting on extra clerks.

Mr. STEED. Do you have what might be termed a pool of desks and chairs that you draw on from day to day that sometimes has to be added to?

Mr. ROBERTS. Yes, sir.

Mr. STEED. What is the inventory situation there? Is that getting pretty thin?

Mr. ROBERTS. Zero. We purchased a great many desks and chairs in the last few months, as well as file cabinets.

I have a backlog of probably 20 requests for new desks in my office

now.

Mr. STEED. You have not had any information from the Architect's office as to their time schedule when remodeling of the two present buildings will start, which may release a lot of furniture for juggling around?

Mr. ROBERTS. I understand it will be 2 or 3 years, Mr. Chairman.

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Mr. MEGILL. As a matter of fact, remodeling work of the two new buildings has not been authorized. It was suspended until the completion of the new building and was discussed in the House of Representatives.

Mr. STEED. The Architect will have to verify this?

Mr. ROBERTS. You mean when they complete the new building they will put in this new furniture and we will have the old?

Mr. STEED. The last time I was talking to them we were told that enough of the new building would be ready by the first of this year so they could move enough Members out of one wing of the building and I think they intend to do that remodeling piecemeal.

If they did that, that would release the furniture in the office of that wing to be remodeled and if that comes in in the next fiscal year, it ought to give you some relief on the tight furniture situation you find yourself in.

Somewhere down the road it ought to give you some relief?

Mr. MEGILL. Mr. Chairman, the completion of some space in the new building does not contemplate that?

Mr. STEED. Yes, the west section of that building is expected to be ready for occupancy a considerable time before the entire building is finished. The anticipation was that probably within a year or a little more a considerable number of Members could move into the new building on the west side, which would relieve some space in one of the old buildings to give them an earlier start on the remodeling since they have to do that piecemeal and in stages anyway.

I do not know what the time schedule on this is, but it is getting to where I do not think there is much more than a year to wait. The impact of that ought to be of some assistance in this other matter of releasing some furniture that is presently needed and I assume that the new offices in the new building will be furnished with new furniture.

Mr. MEGILL. As I understood it, until the chairman made his explanation, offices in one side of the Old House Office Building were to be taken out and moved into the Congressional Hotel.

Mr. STEED. That was suspended so now the method of doing, as I last heard the plan, that would be to move Members into the new west section of the new building as soon as that is ready, which would be several months ahead of the completion of the entire building.

I think it was figured that by the end of this year the new building would be far enough advanced so that it might offer an opportunity for some Members to start moving into the west section of it, which is getting fairly close to completion.

Mr. ROBERTS. I heard a rumor, Mr. Chairman, that when that happens, the Members who stay in the old building will be given three rooms instead of two rooms. If they are, they will require furniture for those rooms.

Mr. STEED. Eventually you would have to move it all back in again. First, they are going to have to have some place for all of the Members in one wing to move out so that that whole thing would be remodeled at one time. When that is finished, only two-thirds as many can move back into the wing as moved out because there will be only two offices where there are now three.