COMPARATIVE STATEMENT OF NEW BUDGET (OBLIGATIONAL) AUTHORITY FOR 1977 AND THE BUDGET [Excludes Senate items and items under Architect of the Capitol for the Senate] COMPARATIVE STATEMENT OF NEW BUDGET (OBLIGATIONAL) AUTHORITY FOR 1977 AND THE BUDGET [Excludes Senate items and items under Architect of the Capitol for the Senate] PORTION OF GPO BUDGET FOR EXECUTIVE BRANCH WORK Mr. STAATS. If I might add, Mr. Chairman, to your point, the Government Printing Office also is included in that figure which has been quoted in the press. A very high percentage of its work is for the executive branch and not for the legislative branch. Mr. SHIPLEY. What percentage? Mr. STAATS. I have those figures, and I would be happy to supply them for the record, but I don't have them with me. But it is a high percentage of the total for the Government Printing Office. We have been somewhat concerned also by the looseness of that billion-dollar term. PORTION OF GAO BUDGET FOR ASSISTANCE TO CONGRESS The Fortune magazine article on the Federal budget attempted to correct this impression, but the taxpayer's group figure has received undue publicity. It is not accurate. About one-third of all of our work, as you have indicated, is in direct assistance to committees and Members of Congress. The other two-thirds is work that we do in behalf of the whole U.S. Government. If you would like, I would be happy to supply you the figures we have with respect to the Government Printing Office. Mr. SHIPLEY. If you would, I would like to have those figures—because we would like when we complete the hearings to be able to break this down as close as we can and eliminate those items that are not in direct support of the Congress-so we can know exactly what the Congress costs, and then I think we should make it clear to the public just what we are doing. [The following information was supplied for the record:] We have been concerned about the inaccuracy of media reports which imply that the Congress is costing taxpayers over $1 billion annually. In actuality, that portion of the legislative appropriations bill proposed for fiscal year 1978 which directly supports Congress is $765 million or 73 percent of the total legislative appropriations bill. Some legislative agencies such as the Botanic Gardens, the Copyright Royalty Tribunal, and the Cost Accounting Standards Board function totally as a service to the public or the entire Federal Government. Other legislative agencies such as the Library of Congress, the Government Printing Office, and the General Accounting Office serve the executive branch and the public as well as the Congress. The following table shows the various units which make up the legislative branch appropriation request and the extent to which they support the operation of the Congress. There are some other points that we would like to make concerning the size of the legislative branch budget. The fiscal year 1978 budget for the legislative branch proposed an increase of 8 percent over fiscal year 1977. This is proportionately less than the 9 percent increase recommended for executive agencies by President Carter. It is only two-tenths of 1 percent of the total Federal budget and only five one-hundredths of 1 percent of the estimated gross national product for 1978. We hope that this information will place the media reports of the "Billion Dollar Congress" in a more understandable context. ELMER B. STAATS, COMPTROLLER GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES AND CHAIRMAN, COST ACCOUNTING STANDARDS BOARD HARRY R. VAN CLEVE, GENERAL COUNSEL JAMES L. DiGUISEPPI, PROJECT DIRECTOR ROBERT F. KELLER, DEPUTY COMPTROLLER OF THE UNITED STATES Mr. SHIPLEY. Let's start this morning, Mr. Staats, with the CostAccounting Standards Board. You also serve as chairman of the Board and will present their budget. BUDGET REQUEST The budget request for 1978 totals $1,700,000, and that is the same amount we appropriated in 1977. BUDGET SCHEDULE AND JUSTIFICATION MATERIAL Let's insert the budget schedule and prepared justifications in the record at this point, Ms. Reporter. [The material referred to follows:] |