JOINT COMMITTEE ON TAXATION Congress of the United States JOINT COMMITTEE ON TAXATION Washington, D.C. 20515 FEB 19 1988 Honorable Vic Fazio Chairman Subcommittee on Legislative Dear Mr. Chairman: Chairman Bentsen and Vice Chairman Rostenkowski have requested that I respond to the request of your subcommittee staff for justification of the Joint Committee on Taxation's fiscal year 1989 budget request and fiscal year 1989 budget request amendment. The following is the Joint Committee's budget estimate for fiscal year 1989 as submitted to the Office of Management and Budget by the Clerk of the House: The Joint Committee's fiscal 1989 budget request (as submitted to OMB) of $4,466,000.00 is an increase of $247,000.00 over the fiscal year 1988 appropriation of $4,219,000.00 (as provided in the conference agreement to H.J. Res. 395). The fiscal year 1989 request as it appears in the President's Budget includes an increase of $141,000.00 in personnel costs to provide for meritorious promotions. Congress of the United States JOINT COMMITTEE ON TAXATION Washington, D.C. 20515 An increase of $106,000.00 in nonpersonnel costs is requested to restore funds for expenses provided for in legislation approved by the House and the Senate but subsequently removed from the FY 1988 appropriation in the conference report accompanying H.J. Res. 395. These funds are needed to complete upgrading of the Joint Committee's computer system, and to fund expansion of Joint Committee operations in the Senate as requested by the Senate Finance Committee. The Joint Committee has also filed, with the Clerk of the House, a budget amendment to the FY 1989 appropriation request for restoration of an additional $34,000.00. These funds were removed from the Joint Committee's original budget request, as submitted to the Clerk of the House, by the House Finance Office when that office incorrectly assumed that we had requested funding for an anticipated 38 cost of living increase and subsequently reduced our budget request to reflect the decrease in the actual amount of the COLA. The Senate Finance Committee has requested that the Joint Committee increase the number of staff members physically located in the Senate Office Buildings. Presently six staff members have offices in one suite in the Dirksen Senate Office Building. The Senate Rules Committee has recently assigned additional office space to the Joint Committee to facilitate the Finance Committee's request and, therefore, we request approval of an additional 6 authorized staff positions, increasing the total number of authorized positions from the current 66 to 72. In order to respond to the Senate's request without increasing our budgetary needs the Joint Committee would, if the increase in the number of staff positions is approved, transfer several staff members from the House office buildings to the new Senate office and hire research and clerical assistants (including some part-time employees) to assume the routine nontechnical work which presently is performed by professional staff members. The hiring of such individuals would permit redistribution of work assignments among the existing professional staff and would enable each of those individuals to assume more of the workload. The corresponding increase in the proportion of staff composed of non-professionals would totally offset the costs of this Congress of the United States JOINT COMMITTEE ON TAXATION At this time we do not foresee additional program needs for the four fiscal years following fiscal year 1989. If you or your staff have any questions concerning the Joint Committee's budget estimates, please do not hesitate to contact me. Sincerely, Randall D. Weins Randall D. Weiss Acting Chief of Staff Item Congress of the United States JOINT COMMITTEE ON TAXATION Washington, D.C. 20515 COMPARISON OF ESTIMATED FISCAL 1989 NON-PERSONNEL COSTS TRAVEL TELECOMMUNICATIONS PERIODICALS CONSULTANTS EQUIPMENT RENTAL TOTAL |