Mr. NORRELL. What is your next resolution, Mr. Clerk? Mr. ROBERTS. House Resolution 623. Mr. NORRELL. All right; just briefly tell us what it provides for. Mr. ROBERTS. It provides for a small increase in salary for the female attendants in the ladies' retiring rooms, which comes under the Office of the Doorkeeper of the House. Compensation is fixed at $1,800 per annum. Mr. NORRELL. Are there any questions? If not, what is the next resolution, Mr. Roberts? Mr. ROBERTS. House Resolution 36. Mr. NORRELL. What did it do? Mr. ROBERTS. It provides authority for the chairman of the House delegation of the United States group of the North Atlantic Treaty Parliamentarians' Conference, until otherwise provided by law, to employ a clerk to be paid from the contingent fund of the House of Representatives at a rate of basic compensation not to exceed $6,000 per annum. Mr. NORRELL. Are there any questions? Mr. HORAN. Just what is this for? Mr. ROBERTS. The resolution passed the House on February 2 of this year. It provides expenses necessary for the purchase, maintenance, operation, and driving of an automobile for the use of any Member of the House who has served as Speaker of the House. Passed January 12, 1959. Mr. NORRELL. Are there any questions? If not, proceed to the next one. Mr. ROBERTS. House Resolution 89 provided for any Member of the House who has served as Speaker of the House an additional $5,000 basic allowance per annum as clerk hire, and in addition an administrative assistant at the basic rate of $8,800 per annum. Mr. NORRELL. Are there any questions? If not, proceed to the next one. Mr. ROBERTS. House Resolution 158 provided for the employment of an additional laborer in the Office of the Postmaster, at a basic annual salary of $1,650. Mr. NORRELL. Are there any questions? Mr. ROBERTS. The next item is House Resolution 197 which provides that the basic compensation of the eight expert transcribers, office of the official committee reporters, and the seven expert transcribers, Office of the Official Reporters of Debates, shall be at the basic per annum rate of $3,450 each, effective March 1, 1959. Mr. NORRELL. Give us the difference. Mr. ROBERTS. It was fixed at a basic rate of $2,500. The resolution raised it to a basic rate of $3,450. Mr. NORRELL. Any questions? OFFICE OF THE SPEAKER Now, I believe we come to the Office of the Speaker. Is it the same as this year? Mr. ROBERTS. No change, Mr. Chairman. Mr. NORRELL. Just give us that information. Mr. ROBERTS. For the Office of the Speaker, $58,510, the same as appropriated for the current fiscal year. No change. OFFICE OF THE PARLIAMENTARIAN Mr. NORRELL. Have you covered the Office of the Parliamentarian? Mr. ROBERTS. It is the same. OFFICE OF THE CHAPLAIN Mr. Chairman, the office of the Chaplain is the same. change there. OFFICE OF THE CLERK Next is the Office of the Clerk. Mr. NORRELL. Any questions? There is no Mr. ROBERTS. This refers back to some of those resolutions you were talking about in the Office of the Clerk. For the Office of the Clerk; $1,065,220, compared with $1,030,655 appropriated for 1959, or an increase of $34,565. This increase is due to the following: House Resolution No. 428, adopted June 25, 1958, provided for employment of a stock and inventory clerk at a basic annual salary of $3,000. House Resolution No. 567, adopted June 25, 1958, provides for the employment of one repair technician at a basic annual rate of $3,600; one assistant repair technician at a basic rate of $2,000; one bookkeeper at a basic rate of $2,100 per annum; one messenger-laborer at a basic rate of $1,920, and one messenger-laborer at a basic rate of $1,695 per annum, and one messenger-laborer at a basic rate of $1,580 per annum. RECORDING STUDIO Mr. NORRELL. Why do you propose to drop the language in the bill on the recording facility? Mr. ROBERTS. Well, it has been the law for 3 or 4 years now, and I thought it should be treated the same as any other department in the clerk's office. It would give us a little more flexibility. Mr. NORRELL. Does the studio operate from a revolving fund? Mr. NORRELL. What is the financial status of the fund? Is it breaking even or accumulating a surplus, or what is the situation. now? Mr. ROBERTS. Well, that is what I wanted to say. Mr. NORRELL. You may proceed. Mr. ROBERTS. For several years prior to October 1956, there was a Joint Senate and House Recording Facility; however, it was dissolved, and the present facility was created by section 105, Legislative Appropriation Act, 1957 (70 Stat. 370). The mission of the House Recording Studios is to assist Members of the House in making disk, film, and tape recordings for broadcast purposes. Personnel of the studios give technical advice only in connection with the production of the programs and have no control whatsoever over the content. I might say here that the type of program is limited almost exclusively to programs which are relatively simple to produce, such as the 15-minute report and interview-type program. No "Hollywood production" type programs are undertaken. As you know, there is a special committee of the House to supervise the operation of the facility; however, I am sure you will be interested to know that from a financial standpoint, it is operated in much the same fashion as the stationery room. It is felt by many that this is a service required in order for a Member to properly serve his district. The scale of charges is based upon that concept. The salaries of employees are from annual appropriations contained in the legislative appropriation act for the Clerk of the House. In past years a specific amount has been earmarked, but I hope that this committee will this year favorably consider including it in the lump sum appropriation for the Clerk so as to permit as much flexibility as possible. I may say also that any adjustment in salaries must be approved by the Clerk and the special committee appointed to supervise the activities of the recording studios. The amounts charged Members for the use of the studio and for materials used is paid into a revolving fund and that is used primarily for the purchase of materials and equipment. Some is expended for the repair of equipment. In fact, all equipment now in use has been purchased in that manner. No appropriated funds have been used. for the purchase of equipment. It is pointed out that the funds of the studio are regularly audited by the General Accounting Office at my request, and have always been found to be in order. I require detailed reports from the studio directors each month and can supply more detailed information if it is desired by the committee. Mr. NORRELL. What is the profit or loss as of last year, if you know, and what was it for the year before? Mr. ROBERTS. Mr. Chairman, there is now in the revolving fund $136,714.56. Mr. NORRELL. That is not the profit? Mr. ROBERTS. NO, sir. This is the present balance in the fund. Mr. NORRELL. Will you please insert that information in the record? Mr. HARPER. Yes, sir; we have it here, Mr. Chairman. (The matter referred to follows:) Profit from July 1, 1957, to July 1, 1958, was $14,094; from July 1, 1952, to March 30, 1959, the profit was $9,112.20. Mr. NORRELL. I believe you stated that your funds have been audited by the General Accounting Office? Mr. ROBERTS. Yes, sir. RETIREMENT EMPLOYEES Mr. NORRELL. On page 8 of the committee print there are two jobs listed as regards work on retirement. One is a job for the employees, and the other is a position for the Members. Mr. ROBERTS. Yes, sir. Mr. NORRELL. The employee for Members; is that the man who works in the Office of the Sergeant at Arms? Mr. ROBERTS. Yes, sir. Mr. NORRELL. Why should he be listed on your payroll? Mr. ROBERTS. Well, Mr. Chairman, the history of that goes back 5 or 6 years. 40866-59-2 Mr. NORRELL. Who handled it during that period of time? Did you handle it? Mr. ROBERTS. Yes, sir. Mr. NORRELL. And that is the reason Mr. ROBERTS. I appointed an administrative assistant, and assigned him the duty of looking after the Members' retirement. Mr. NORRELL. Is he pretty well busy all the time? Mr. ROBERTS. He is my employee, but at the direction and the request of the membership, I let him work out of the Sergeant at Arms' office, because they keep the records there, and it is a little more convenient for the Members to get in contact with him. I think he is busy all the time. LUMP-SUM FOR ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANTS Mr. NORRELL. On page 8 under your lump-sum item of $79,860 you list several jobs, seven, I believe, all told. At one time you had more, but I think you have about seven now, and for the last year or so. Do you think you can continue to get along with that assistance? Mr. ROBERTS. Well, Mr. Chairman, you remember the Reorganization Act of 1945 imposed numerous functions upon the Clerk which had not previously been in existence. Section 244 of that act recognized the additional burden and contained authorization for the Clerk to obtain such appropriations as are necessary to hire sufficient administrative assistants to carry out those added functions. Even since the passage of the Reorganization Act, the work of Congress has increased so tremendously that the duties of the Clerk have multiplied manyfold. The operation is now so large and complicated that it requires competent personnel in several different specialized fields to provide adequately the services demanded by the House. The request for the lump sum administrative assistants has been held to the minimum. It will be observed that the amount placed at the disposal of the Clerk of the House is less than that provided for the same purpose in the Senate while the functions on the House side are far greater. The lump sum for the Clerk is less than that provided for any committee of the House. The Clerk's duties encompass many activities in 17 offices widely scattered throughout the Capitol and House Office Buildings. The Daily Digest alone requires the services of three of the administrative assistants, and one is assigned to the property custodian's office. The responsibilities of the clerk are so varied that I have found it necessary to add to my personal staff so as to have someone assisting me who concerns himself to limited areas of the clerk's functions. The three administrative assistants in my office under the lump-sum appropriation, as well as the statutory assistant, aid me in supervising and processing matters relating to specific offices in their area of responsibility as well as assisting in the general conduct of the overall office. Since the duties of the administrative assistants are specialized in nature their responsibilities are heavy; and in many instances interpret for others my directives and policies-I endeavor to exercise great care in their selection. With the varied duties imposed upon the clerk's office, as I have indicated, and the high degree of responsibility and accountability, he must surround himself with capable and loyal personal assistants. LUMP SUM FOR CLERICAL ASSISTANTS Mr. NORRELL. All right, Mr. Clerk. I see on the same page that you have another lump-sum item of $10,670. What is that for; and how is it used? Mr. ROBERTS. That is for emergency employees, where someone is sick or incapacitated and we have to have additional employees to help out. Mr. NORRELL. Are all of these jobs filled at the present time? Mr. ROBERTS. Well, now, Mr. Chairman, the greatest business comes along at the beginning of a session and at the end of a session, and it is usually then that we put on some extra help-in May and June at the end of a fiscal year, or in January at the beginning of a session. That is where we have spent that money. In the bill clerk's office they have had four or five extra employees up there to process the bills. For the first 2 weeks they were swamped. Mr. NORRELL. All right. TYPEWRITERS AND OTHER MACHINES There has been some recent publicity about typewriters and office equipment. What about the situation as briefly as you can tell us, Mr. Clerk? Mr. ROBERTS. Mr. Chairman, manual typewriters are furnished Members of the House and other offices of the House under the act of March 4, 1907. With the increasing use of electric typewriters, the manual typewriter is fast fading out of the picture. This has created some problems, but I am taking positive action to meet the changed conditions. In the first place, the purchase of new manual typewriters has been virtually discontinued. Occasionally, we have a demand for a new manual, but in each case we try to utilize one of the used machines in stock, if at all possible. Because the inventory of manual typewriters has grown so rapidly, I recently instructed the Property Custodian to turn 100 machines over to the General Services Administration for disposition. I shall repeat that just as soon as I can do so. Most of these manual typewriters are old and require considerable maintenance; however, since the beginning of this fiscal year we have cut down measurably on the use of outside repairmen for this work. Our own maintenance man was out during the previous fiscal year for many weeks on account of illness, but he now has the situation well in hand and except for the complete overhaul of a few selected machines, I am not authorizing any outside repair work. When it appeared that we were fast getting out of the manual typewriter business, I asked the General Accounting Office to assist my people in a physical inventory of all the machines we had. During the course of their inventory, it was reported to me that all of the machines were not physically located where the records indicated them |