Centralized Congressional Leadership

Legislative-Executive Relations

American Politics:
©Marc A. Triebwasser

Thus far, we have been discussing congressional committees which are made up of elected representatives and senators and centralized leadership positions which are held by these elected representatives and senators. In addition to these elected officials, Congress also has within its jurisdiction a large number of staff positions which are appointed by members of Congress themselves. There are three types of staff positions in Congress: personal staff, committee staff and staff offices.

Personal Staff

Representatives and senators have their own personal staffs. These usually consist of administrative assistants (AAs), legislative assistants (LAs), and field staff. These staff members help expedite a congressperson's extremely heavy workload.

Administrative Assistants. Administrative assistants help run a representative's or senator's office. They handle correspondence, especially from constituents, arrange meetings and do other usual office business.

Legislative Assistants. Legislative assistants help representatives and senators in dealing with the various bills being considered by the House or Senate. Very often, they do much of the research, in this regard, and the representative or senator often depends on the advice of these aids. Since a representative or senator has a very crowded schedule, it is important for them to have the help of these assistants in preparing for legislative hearings and performing other legislative tasks.

Field Staff. Field staff members work in a representative's home district offices or in a senator's home state offices. They engage in what is called constituent services or case work. This activity involves a great deal of staff time. Every year representatives and senators receive thousands of requests from constituents who need individual help in dealing with executive agencies or other parts of the government. Although this ombudsman function is not specifically mentioned in the Constitution, it does play a major role in congressional life.

Often representatives' and senators' reputations among their constituency is based on their ability to help individual constituents with all sorts of more or less personal problems with the government. These often involve agencies like Social Security or Veterans Affairs. The fact is that it is often easier to arrange a special solution to an individual's problem through the interaction of a representative or senator with the Bureaucracy than it would be to get the necessary legislation passed to deal with these problems on a more general basis.

When you write a letter or make a call to your congressperson dealing with a specific problem affecting you or your family--rather than making a general statement of your opinion--you are becoming involved in the case work activities of your congressperson.

Committee Staff

The second type of congressional staff positions are associated with particular congressional committees and subcommittees. Committee staff usually work for the committee chairperson. As part of the congressional reforms of the 1970s, it was also decided that one third of a committee's or subcommittee's staff would be assigned to the minority party members of that committee or subcommittee.

Staff Offices

The third type of congressional staff position consists of the three congressional offices which have been set up in our national legislature: the General Accounting Offices, the Congressional Research Service, and the Congressional Budget Office. As you remember it is the congressional committees which are made up only of elected representatives and senators, while congressional offices are made up only of appointed staff members.

The staff people serving congressional committees and subcommittees, as well as in the congressional administrative offices, often serve in their positions far longer than do representatives or even senators. These congressional staff people, therefore, often have far more knowledge and connections both inside and outside of government than do many elected representatives and senators. Thus, although these staff people are appointed rather than elected, they usually have far more power than the general public ordinarily realizes.

General Accounting Office (GAO). The General Accounting Office (GAO) is responsible for auditing the federal budget once it has been put into place by Congress and the President. It was created by the Federal Budget and Accounting Act of 1921. Over the years it has been given the responsibility, not simply for performing accounting audits, but also for judging how various programs are being administered.

The Congressional Research Service (CRS). The Congressional Research Service--the only congressional office not to have the word "office" in its title--is part of the Library of Congress. It was established by the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946. Its job is to prepare reports and studies to assist members of Congress in their consideration of legislation

Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The CBO was established by the Federal Budget Act of 1974. It is the job of the Congressional Budget Office to assist the House and Senate Budget Committees. It gathers information on the current operating budgets of the various government agencies and programs, and reports on new budgetary requests and suggestions made through the Executive Branch's Office of Management and Budget.
 
 

Centralized Congressional Leadership

Congressional Staff

Legislative-Executive Relations