COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS WILLIAM L. DAWSON, Illinois, Chairman CHET HOLIFIELD, California JOHN W. McCORMACK, Massachusetts L. H. FOUNTAIN, North Carolina EDWARD A. GARMATZ, Maryland DANTE B. FASCELL, Florida MARTHA W. GRIFFITHS, Michigan HENRY S. REUSS, Wisconsin OVERTON BROOKS, Louisiana ELIZABETH KEE, West Virginia KATHRYN E. GRANAHAN, Pennsylvania CLARE E. HOFFMAN, Michigan R. WALTER RIEHLMAN, New York JOE HOLT, California ROBERT P. GRIFFIN, Michigan GEORGE M. WALLHAUSER, New Jersey JESSICA MCC. WEIS, New York ODIN LANGEN, Minnesota ROBERT R. BARRY, New York CHRISTINE RAY DAVIS, Staff Director [COMMITTEE PRINT] NOTES ON THE JURISDICTION OF THE HOUSE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS HISTORICAL BACKGROUND The predecessor of the Committee on Government Operations was called the Committee on Expenditures in the Executive Departments. This committee was created, December 5, 1927, by the consolidation of the 11 Committees on Expenditures in the Various Departments of the Government, the earliest of which has been in existence since 1816. As adopted in 1816 the rule did not include the committees for the Department of Interior, Justice, Agriculture, Commerce, and Labor. The committees for these Departments dated, respectively, from 1860, 1874, 1889, 1905, and 1913. The resolution providing for the adoption of the rules of the 70th Congress discontinued the several committees on expenditures and transferred their functions to the newly created Committee on Expenditures in the Executive Depart ments. On March 17, 1928, the jurisdiction of the committee was further enlarged by the adoption of a resolution, reported from the Committee on Rules, including within its jurisdiction the independent establishments and commissions of the Government (Cannon's Precedents, sec. 2041). Prior to January 2, 1947, the effective date of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946, the various House committees were elected pursuant to rule X and their respective jurisdictions were set out in rule XI of the Rules of the House of Representatives, 78th Congress. This rule stated the powers and duties of 44 committees of the House beginning: All proposed legislation shall be referred to the committees named in the preceding rule, as follows, viz, subjects relating Then followed the committees in numerical order as, for instance, "5. To banking and currency-to the Committee on Banking and Currency.' The full statement of the jurisdiction of the Committee on Expenditures in the Executive Department was: The examination of the accounts and expenditures of the several departments, independent establishments, and commissions of the Government and the manner of keeping the same; the economy, justness, and correctness of such expenditures: their conformity with appropriation laws; the proper application of public moneys; the security of the Government against unjust and extravagant demands; retrenchment; the enforcement of the payment of moneys due to the United States; the economy and accountability of public officers; the abolishment of useless offices, shall all be subjects within the jurisdiction of the Committee on Expenditures in the Executive Departments.2 1 In some cases footnotes indicated additional Jurisdiction by parliamentary precedent. Sec. 121 of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 provided "that unless otherwise provided herein, any matter within the jurisdiction of a standing committee prior to Jan. 2, 1947, shall remain subject to the jurisdiction of that committee This language was incorporated in the Rules of the House for each Congress up to the 83d Cong., at which time it was omitted and has been omitted since. sed legislation" to ve Departments. of legislation to d Committee of legislation a m COMMIT CHET HOLIFIELD, Ca JOE M. KI DANTE I OVE KA J sext E COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT rganization Act of 1946 redefined the powers ommittee and assigned new duties to it, among y to receive gislation, messages, petitions, memorials, and other matters relatBudget and accounting measures, other than appropriations. Reorganizations in the executive branch of the Government. The committee gained specifically enumerated legislative powers les. Both before and after the enactment of the Legislative anization Act, however, the committee had referred to it sures which were closely related to its other functions or which, Employment Act of 1946 and the Federal Property and Administra ve Services Act of 1949. A cognate duty set forth in section 136 of the act of 1946 To assist the Congress in appraising the administration of the laws and in developing such amendments or related legislation as it may deem necessary, each standing committee of the Senate and the House of Representatives shall exercise continuous watchfulness of the execution by the administrative agencies concerned of any laws, the subject matter of which is within the jurisdiction of such committee; and, for that purpose, shall study all pertinent reports and data submitted to the Congress by the agencies in the executive branch of the Government. This duty to "exercise continuous watchfulness" seems to stem from the legislative duties of the various committees. It may fairly be concluded that the Committee on Government Operations is required to exercise continuous watchfulness in respect to the administrative agencies concerned with budgetary and accounting matters and those involved with reorganizations in the executive branch of the Government. It should also be noted that the statute and rule imposing oversight duties on all congressional committees limit the exercise of such |