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H.R. 2918 — FY 2010 Legislative Branch Appropriations Act

Washington, Jun 19 -

Legislative Bulletin………………………………….………June 19, 2009

H.R. 2918 — FY 2010 Legislative Branch Appropriations Act

BY THE NUMBERS:

In Millions of Dollars

FY09

FY10 Request

FY10 Committee

Cmte v. Request

Cmte v.

FY09

Appropriations

3,463

3,957

3,675

-282

212

Emergency Approps

25

0

0

0

-25

Total

3,488

3,957

3,675

-282

187

Excluding Emergency Appropriations, the Committee Bill is:

$282 million or 7.1% less than the request

$212 million or 6.1% more than last year

Spending Discussion: The bill provides $212 million (6.1%) more than FY 2009 for the Legislative Branch Appropriations bill. Last week, the House Appropriations Committee set the 302(b) allocation for the twelve appropriations bills. Under Chairman Obey’s FY 2010 spending plan, all twelve bills will receive spending increases, with a total spending level of $1,089.6 trillion—an increase of $76 billion or 7.6% compared to last year.

Order of Business: H.R. 2918 is scheduled to be considered under a structured rule that waives all points of order except for clauses 9 (earmarks) and 10 (PAYGO) of rule XXI. The rule makes in order only one Democrat Amendment (summarized below), and prevents 12 RSC Members from offering amendments. Several of these amendments would have saved taxpayers money by reducing the overall spending level in the bill. The rule also allows the House to consider concurrent resolutions providing for the adjournment of the House and Senate during the month of July.

Earmarks:

The Committee Report states that: “Pursuant to clause 9 of rule XXI of the Rules of the House of Representatives, this bill, as reported, contains no congressional earmarks, limited tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits as defined in clause 9(e), 9(f), or 9(g) of rule XXI.”

Items of Note:

Committee Funding: Provides $31.3 million for the Appropriations Committee and $139.9 million for the other standing committees for the 110^th Congress.

Members’ Representational Allowances: $660 million—$51 million or 8.4% above last year’s level.

Government Printing Office (GPO) Congressional Printing: $93.3 million—$3.8 million or 3.6% less than last year’s level. The Internet makes this function of the GPO more obsolete every year. Previous RSC budgets have proposed to decrease funding for this program by half.

Wheels for Wellness Program: The bill provides $100,000 for this program, which allows employees of the House to use a bike sharing program. During its first year, the program was used less than 300 times. At that rate, H.R. 2918 will spend more than $330 per bike ride under this program. For that amount of money, the House could buy more than 1,000 bicycles instead. Representative Paul Broun offered an HUamendmentUH, not made in order by the House Rules Committee, to eliminate this program.

Funding Summaries

In Thousands

	FY 2009	FY 2010	FY 2010	Cmte. v.	Cmte. v.	Cmte. v.	Cmte. v.
	Enacted	Request	Cmte	FY2010	Request	FY 2009	Request
House of Representatives
Office of the Speaker..................................................	4,879	5,077	5,077	198	----	4.1%	----
Majority Leader............................................................	2,436	2,530	2,530	94	----	3.9%	----
Minority Leader............................................................	4,390	4,565	4,565	175	----	4.0%	----
Majority Whip...............................................................	2,115	2,194	2,194	79	----	3.7%	----
Minority Whip...............................................................	1,630	1,690	1,690	60	----	3.7%	----
Speaker Floor Activities...............................................	501	517	517	16	----	3.2%	----
Republican Steering Cmte............................................	950	981	981	31	----	3.3%	----
Republican Conference...............................................	1,777	1,748	1,748	-29	----	-1.6%	----
Republican Policy.........................................................	337	362	362	25	----	7.4%	----
Democratic Steering & Policy Cmte..............................	1,315	1,366	1,366	51	----	3.9%	----
Democratic Caucus.....................................................	1,749	1,725	1,725	-24	----	-1.4%	----
Nine Minority Employees..............................................	1,502	1,552	1,552	50	----	3.3%	----
Training & Development Programs...............................	580	580	580	----	----	----	----
Cloakroom Personnel...................................................	952	994	994	42	----	4.4%	----
Subtotal House Leadership...................................	25,113	25,881	25,881	768	----	3.1%	----
Members' Representational Allowance (MRA)............	609,000	699,344	660,000	51,000	-39,344	8.4%	-5.6%
Standing Cmtes (except Appropriations)....................	154,000	175,189	139,878	-14,122	-35,311	-9.2%	-20.2%
Appropriations Cmte....................................................	31,300	33,303	31,300	----	----	----	----
Office of the Clerk.......................................................	27,457	33,901	32,089	4,632	-1,812	16.9%	-5.3%
Office of the Sergeant at Arms...................................	8,355	10,092	9,509	1,154	-583	13.8%	-5.8%
Office of Chief Administrative Officer.........................	125,838	133,948	130,782	4,944	-3,166	3.9%	-2.4%
Office of the Inspector General...................................	4,945	5,062	5,045	100	----	2.0%	----
Office of Emergency Preparedness............................	3,974	4,469	4,445	471	----	11.9%	----
Office of the General Counsel.....................................	1,357	1,431	1,415	58	----	4.3%	----
Office of the Chaplain..................................................	173	179	179	6	----	3.5%	----
Office of the Parliamentarian.......................................	2,007	2,060	2,060	53	----	2.6%	----
Office of the Law Revision Counsel...........................	3,057	3,299	3,258	201	----	6.6%	----
Office of the Legislative Counsel................................	8,377	8,900	8,814	477	----	5.7%	----
Office of Interparliamentary Affairs…………………...	777	866	859	82	----	10.6%	----
Other Authorized Employees…………………………..	1,158	1,320	1,249	91	----	7.9%	----
Supplies, materials, admin costs, tort claims...............	4,135	3,979	3,948	-187	----	-4.5%	----
Official Mail..................................................................	201	201	201	----	----	----	----
Gov't Contributions......................................................	1,900	----	----	-1,900	----	-100.0%	----
Misc Items....................................................................	742	787	760	18	----	2.4%	----
Joint Items
Joint Economic Cmte.......................................................	4,626	4,814	4,814	188	----	4.1%	----
Joint Cmte on Taxation....................................................	10,719	12,823	11,451	732	-1,372	6.8%	-10.7%
Office of the Attending Physician...................................	3,105	3,832	3,805	700	-27	22.5%	-0.7%
Capitol Police ………………….......................................	305,750	410,069	325,112	19,362	-84,957	6.3%	-20.7%
Office of Compliance......................................................	4,072	4,474	4,335	263	-139	6.5%	-3.1%
Congressional Budget Office..........................................	44,082	46,365	45,165	1,083	-1,200	2.5%	-2.6%
Architect of the Capitol--Gen'l Admin..............................	90,659	121,460	109,392	18,733	-12,068	20.7%	-9.9%
Capitol Building................................................................	35,840	33,305	32,800	-3,040	-505	-8.5%	-1.5%
Capitol Grounds..............................................................	9,649	10,974	10,920	1,271	-54	13.2%	-0.5%
House Office Buildings...................................................	65,814	111,926	100,466	34,652	-11,460	52.7%	-10.2%
Capitol Power Plant, Net..................................................................................	157,042	162,503	133,083	-23,959	-29,420	-15.3%	-18.1%
Library of Congress........................................................	607,096	658,409	647,397	40,301	-11,012	6.6%	-1.7%
Capitol Visitor Center, Total…………………………………………………………	40,227	24,568	23,166	-17,061	-1,402	-42.4%	-5.7%
Copyright Office, Salaries and Expenses, Net...............	18,277	20,864	20,864	2,587	----	14.2%	----
Congressional Research Service...................................	107,323	115,136	112,490	5,167	-2,646	4.8%	-2.3%
Books for the Blind & Handicapped................................	68,816	70,182	70,182	1,366	----	2.0%	----
Government Printing Office -- Cong. Printing.................	96,828	93,296	93,296	-3,532	----	-3.6%	----
Gov't Printing Office -- Salaries & Expenses..................	38,744	40,911	40,911	2,167	----	5.6%	----
Gov’t Printing Office Revolving Fund…...........................	4,995	32,100	12,000	7,005	-20,100	140.2%	-62.6%
General Accountability Office, Net......................................	556,000	567,497	558,849	2,849	-8,648	5.1%	-1.5%
Payment to Open World Leadership Ctr Trust Fund	13,900	14,456	9,000	-4,900	-5,456	-35.3%	-37.7%

AMENDMENT MADE IN ORDER UNDER THE RULE

1. McCarthy (D-NY). Of the $443.9 million provided in the bill for the Library of Congress, Salaries and Expenses, the McCarthy Amendment would designate $250,000 for Civil Rights History Project Act of 2009. (Debatable for 10 minutes)

Committee Action: H.R. 2918 was reported out of the House Appropriations Committee as an original measure on June 17, 2009.

Cost to Taxpayers: The bill appropriates a total of $3.7 billion in FY 2010.

Does the Bill Expand the Size and Scope of the Federal Government?: Yes, the bill increases spending for programs in the FY 2010 Legislative Branch bill by $212 million or 6.1%.

Does the Bill Contain Any New State-Government, Local-Government, or Private-Sector Mandates?: No CBO score is available listing any possible mandates.

Constitutional Authority: The House Appropriations Committee cited Clause 7 of Section 9 of Article I of the Constitution (the power of Congress to appropriate money). The committee did not cite constitutional authority for the various spending items themselves.