SALARIES AND EXPENSES, CONGRESSIONAL RESEARCH SERVICE (CONTINUED)

Supplies and Materials

An increase from $55,000 to $70,000.

This increase is requested to purchase research materials used

in responding to Congressional requests which can be answered by sending prepared materials.

Other Services

Total increases

APPROPRIATION: SALARIES AND EXPENSES, CONGRESSIONAL RESEARCH SERVICE (CONTINUED)

Workload

Congressional demand for assistance from the Service, as reflected in the volume of inquiries it
receives, continues to reach new heights. During the calendar year just ended, 1970, CRS was called upon
to handle over 173,000 inquiries, some 15,000 more than in calendar 1969, an increase of 10 percent within
a single year. This total represents a 77 percent rise in workload during the past six calendar years.
Table I shows the Congressional requests received by the Service on a weekly basis, comparing
calendar years 1960, 1964, 1968, and 1970. It shows, as similar charts have shown in the past, that
the workload has been reaching new peaks every year, and that the duration of the periods of peak work-
load has lengthened in each succeeding year, which, in turn, creates the backlogs and other difficulties
that affect timely and adequate response to Congressional requests.

* Reference is made to calendar years because of the close parallel between CRS's workload and that of Congress itself, and Congressional workload is more readily understood in terms of its sessions which open at the beginning of each calendar year.

APPROPRIATION:

SALARIES AND EXPENSES, CONGRESSIONAL RESEARCH SERVICE (CONTINUED)

An analysis of the inquiries handled by the Service during calendar 1964 through 1970 by
reference to their source indicates that Member (and Committee) inquiries, which represent the Service's
more substantive and time-consuming workload, rose from approximately 40,000 in 1964 to almost 97,000
in 1970, an increase of more than 142 percent during this six-year period. Constituent inquiries rose
from 53,000 to over 76,000 during the same period, up 43 percent. Both member and constituent inquiries
rose 10 percent respectively, 1970 over 1969. It should be noted that constituent inquiries, comprising
44 percent of the 1970 total, involved only 18 percent of the Service's total research time (almost all
at the lowest professional staff level). Table II gives the comparable figures:

APPROPRIATION:

SALARIES AND EXPENSES, CONGRESSIONAL RESEARCH SERVICE (CONTINUED)

The workload during the past year was characterized by arrearages, frequent inability to
accept important research projects requested by Committees, delays in response, and generally harried
The present budget request, described under the three major program
conditions throughout the Service.
activities set out below, in additions to staffing the Service for its new responsibilities, should
alleviate these conditions.

Although CRS staff has been strengthened over the years, the percentage increase in workload
has greatly exceeded the percentage increase in staff. This is shown in Table III which compares the
two percentages for miscellaneous years from fiscal 1947 forward (1947 is the year CRS received its
statutory charter).