-10 In summary, significant progress has been made toward achieving the objectives of the Federal Advisory Committee Act. Working together, (especially this subcommittee) and the executive branch the Congress have established a system of advisory committee management. We can now focus on improving the administration of that system, and thereby achieving further progress within the present legislative framework. In short, we have not reached the limits of the Act. In my opinion, amending the Act now would be more disruptive, and less productive than a continued, cooperative effort to make the system work. Mr. Chairman, as requested in your letter of invitation, I am attaching to this statement a brief discussion of the procedures used for selecting members of advisory committees utilized by OMB. I will be glad to discuss these further, if you wish. Mr. Chairman, this concludes my prepared statement. MEMBERSHIP OF OMB ADVISORY COMMITTEES ATTACHMENT March 8, 1976 The Office of Management and Budget utilizes six groups to provide advice and recommendations, on a range of subjects, to the Statistical Policy Division, Management and Operations. We are now reviewing these groups, as a part of the annual comprehensive review, to determine whether they should be continued, revised, merged, or terminated. review should be completed by April 1, 1976. The members of the groups have been selected in two different ways, reflecting the differences in the groups (and their functions) themselves: 1. This The membership of three committees (Advisory Committee on A list of the available candidates is given to the responsible to the Director. The Director, OMB, makes the final appoint ments. -2 2. Three committees are representative of non-Federal groups The members, and makes recommendations to the Director, OMB, who makes the final appointments. Membership on the Business Advisory Council on Federal Reports is determined by its constitution and by-laws: each of the six sponsoring organizations (American Retail Federation, American Society of Association Executives, Chamber of Commerce of the U.S., Financial Executives Institute, National Association of Manufacturers, and the National Small Business Association) names three members; eight members-at-large are selected by a Membership Committee of the BACFR (which includes both sponsoring organization and at-large members); and finally, 70-426 - 76 - 6 -3 there are three past chairmen active in BACFR, who are not considered to represent either sponsoring organization or at-large categories. OMB does not select the members of this utilized advisory group. We believe that the membership of OMB's advisory committees meets the requirements of the Federal Advisory Committee Act. However, this is a factor that is being considered in the annual comprehensive review, and if our current review indicates that changes are indicated, we will take appropriate action. Senator METCALF. We are honored to have as our next witness the Honorable Mary C. Lawton, Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the Office of Legal Counsel of the Department of Justice. We are glad to have you before the committee again. We enjoyed your testimony in the past. We are glad to have you with us. TESTIMONY OF MARY C. LAWTON, DEPUTY ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL, OFFICE OF LEGAL COUNSEL, DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE; ACCOMPANIED BY DAVID MARBLESTONE, ATTORNEY, OFFICE OF LEGAL COUNSEL; AND JOHN FITCH, ATTORNEY, OFFICE OF LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS Ms. LAWTON. Thank you, Senator. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, given the hour and the highly technical nature of our testimony, I would propose not to go through all of the details, but to submit the statement for the record. Senator METCALF. Fine. The complete statement will be incorporated in the record at the conclusion of your testimony. You have commented on special bills that are before this committee as far as the Department of Justice is concerned. So I appreciate that you are going to highlight your statement. Ms. LAWTON. Thank you, Senator. As the committee requested, a description of the methods of selection of Department of Justice advisory committees is attached to my prepared statement. May I first introduce David Marblestone of our staff who has worked with this committee for some time; and John Fitch of the Office of Legislative Affairs. One of the points made in the testimony, Senator, is one that was alluded to earlier here today, and that is the problem of separation of powers when committees advising the Congress and advising the legislative branch entities are incorporated into the present structure of the Federal Advisory Committee Act. The problem arises primarily because of the oversight functions which the act places in OMB and the new provision that would put disciplinary responsibility in the Civil Service Commission. We think it raises serious separation of powers problems if the Civil Service Commission is to exercise disciplinary responsibility over individuals who are advising the Congress or advising entities of the Congress. Indeed, we question whether the scope of Civil Service Commission jurisdiction would reach such individuals since, by definition in the Advisory Committee Act, they are not Government employees. Those are two of the problems we have with the amendments in their present form. It seems to us that if entities advising the legislative branch are to be incorporated into the concept of the Advisory Committee Act, it might best be done by a parallel piece of legislation that would resolve these separation of powers problems; picking up the concept of openness and the concept of reporting, but nevertheless not encompassing executive branch oversight of legislative branch business. Senator METCALF. Let me comment on that. I know you make some lists. You say well, these are the problems, and send them |