19–008 

112TH CONGRESS REPORT " ! HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 2d Session 112–362 

ADJUSTING THE AMOUNT PROVIDED FOR THE EXPENSES OF CERTAIN 

COMMITTEES OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES IN THE ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS 

JANUARY 17, 2012.—Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed 

Mr. DANIEL E. LUNGREN of California, from the Committee on 

House Administration, submitted the following 

R E P O R T 

together with 

MINORITY VIEWS 

[To accompany H. Res. 496] 

The Committee on House Administration, to whom was referred 

the resolution (H. Res. 496) adjusting the amount provided for the 

expenses of certain committees of the House of Representatives in 

the One Hundred Twelfth Congress, having considered the same, 

report favorably thereon without amendment and recommend that 

the resolution be agreed to. 

BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR THE RESOLUTION

Under House rule X, clause 6, the Committee on House Administration is charged with the responsibility of reporting an expense 

resolution to grant authorization for the expenses, including salaries, of the select and standing committees of the House. To accomplish this goal, the Committee convened a hearing to provide the 

Chairs and Ranking Members of the standing and select committees an opportunity to present and justify their respective budget 

requests. These budget requests covered both sessions of Congress. 

On March 9, 2011, by voice vote, the Committee met and unanimously agreed to a motion to favorably report H. Res. 147, the omnibus expense resolution, to the House. This resolution combined 

the standing and select committees’ initial budget requests after 

consideration of available funds and budget constraints. Further, 

section 3(c) of the resolution stipulated that none of the funds for 

the second session may be made available after March 15, 2012, 

until the Chairs and Ranking Members appeared and presented 

testimony before House Administration to review the use of funds 

in the first session. 


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On July 22, 2011, the House passed H.R. 2551, the Legislative 

Branch Appropriations Act, 2012. This bill appropriates 

$125,964,870 for salaries and expenses of the standing and select 

committees for 2012. That amount represents a 6.4% reduction 

from the 2011 appropriation level for committee budgets. 

To meet the section 3(c) requirement of H. Res. 147, on November 30, 2011, the Committee held an oversight hearing to review 

the budgets for all the standing and select committees (except the 

Committee on Appropriations) in 2011, and to review budget planning for 2012. During the hearing, Committee members asked the 

Chairs and Ranking Members about how each committee operated 

with their lower budgets and whether the committees could continue to perform their responsibilities with future cuts to their 

budgets. Each committee was also questioned on whether they 

have held to the practice of giving the minority one-third of the 

committee’s budget. 

On December 14, 2011, Chairman Lungren introduced a second 

committee funding resolution, H. Res. 496, to adjust committee authorization levels. This resolution—matching authorization levels 

with the reduced funding levels—required the Committee to make 

extremely difficult decisions. 

Most committees will be faced with tremendous oversight responsibilities in 2012. Particularly daunting will be Armed Services’ 

charge of managing the automatic sequestration of $600 billion in 

defense funding triggered by the Budget Control Act. In addition 

to Armed Services, the Ethics Committee—tasked with holding 

Members and staff to the highest ethical standards—requested and 

received reprieve from authorization reductions in this resolution. 

To offset these exceptions, the Committee identified and reduced 

the authorizations of committee budgets most able to absorb a 

slightly larger reduction in 2012. In addition to the Committee on 

House Administration, the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology and the Committee on Small Business received a slightly 

higher reduction than the 6.4% cut applied to the remaining House 

committees. 

On December 16, 2011, the Committee, by voice vote, agreed to 

a motion to favorably report the resolution to the House. 

SUMMARY AND SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS

Section 1(a) adjusts the aggregate amount paid out of the applicable accounts of the House of Representatives with respect to the 

112th Congress for the expenses (including the expense of all staff 

salaries) of the select and standing committees of the House (except 

the Committee on Appropriations). 

Section 1(b) adjusts the amount provided for the expenses of each 

standing and select committee of the House (except the Committee 

on Appropriations) for expenses incurred during the second session 

of the 112th Congress (the period beginning at noon on January 3, 

2012, and ending immediately before noon on January 3, 2013). 

The amounts for each committee contained in the primary expense resolution are as follows: 

Committee 112th total Second session 

Agriculture ................................................................................................................... $11,848,132 $5,658,638 

Armed Services ............................................................................................................ 14,900,023 7,374,759 


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Committee 112th total Second session 

Budget ......................................................................................................................... 11,680,246 5,647,061 

Education and Workforce ............................................................................................. 16,158,348 7,812,094 

Energy and Commerce ................................................................................................. 21,678,149 10,697,209 

Ethics ........................................................................................................................... 6,218,310 3,393,775 

Financial Services ........................................................................................................ 16,825,969 8,384,705 

Foreign Affairs ............................................................................................................. 17,331,982 8,379,512 

Homeland Security ....................................................................................................... 16,347,050 7,903,326 

House Administration .................................................................................................. 10,118,345 5,169,169 

Judiciary ....................................................................................................................... 16,265,122 7,863,716 

Natural Resources ....................................................................................................... 15,235,867 7,366,101 

Oversight & Gov’t. Reform .......................................................................................... 20,546,873 9,933,819 

Rules ............................................................................................................................ 6,566,883 3,174,898 

Science, Space, and Technology ................................................................................. 12,671,660 5,986,023 

Small Business ............................................................................................................ 6,598,427 3,383,536 

Transportation and Infrastructure ............................................................................... 19,195,872 9,280,649 

Veterans’ Affairs .......................................................................................................... 7,049,575 3,446,830 

Ways and Means ......................................................................................................... 18,975,444 9,174,079 

HPSC on Intelligence ................................................................................................... 9,977,660 4,823,910 

Totals .................................................................................................................. 276,189,937 134,853,809 

COMMITTEE CONSIDERATION OF H. RES. 496

INTRODUCTION AND REFERRAL

On December 14, 2011, Representative Daniel E. Lungren of 

California introduced House Resolution 496, which was referred to 

the Committee on House Administration. 

HEARINGS

On November 30, 2011, the Committee held an oversight hearing 

to review the budgets for all the standing and select committees 

(except the Committee on Appropriations) in 2011, and to review 

budget planning for 2012. The Chairs and Ranking Members of the 

select and standing committees provided testimony on their respective use of committee funds. 

COMMITTEE CONSIDERATION

On December 16, 2011, the Committee met to mark up House 

Resolution 496. The Committee ordered the resolution reported favorably to the House by voice vote, with a quorum present. 

COMMITTEE RECORD VOTES

In compliance with House rule XIII, clause 3(b), with respect to 

each record vote on an amendment or motion to report, together 

with the names of those voting for and against, the Committee 

states that there were no recorded votes during the consideration 

of this resolution. 

COMMITTEE OVERSIGHT FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

In compliance with House rule XXIII, clause 3(c)(1), the Committee states that the findings and recommendations of the Committee, based on oversight activities under House rule X, clause 

2(b)(1), are incorporated into the general discussion section of this 

report. 


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STATEMENT OF BUDGET AUTHORITY AND RELATED ITEMS

The resolution does not provide new budget authority, new 

spending authority, new credit authority, or an increase or decrease in revenues or tax expenditures and a statement under 

House rule XXIII, clause 3(c)(2), and section 308(a)(1) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 is not required. 

CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE COST ESTIMATE

In compliance with House rule XXIII, clause 3(c)(3), the Committee states, with respect to House Resolution 496, that the Director of the Congressional Budget Office did not submit a cost estimate and comparison under section 402 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974. 

PERFORMANCE GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

In compliance with House rule XXIII, clause 3(c)(4), the Committee states that the general discussion section of this report includes a statement of the general performance goals and objectives, 

including outcome-related goals and objectives, for which House 

Resolution 496 authorizes funding. 

ADVISORY ON EARMARKS

In accordance with House rule XXI, clause 9, the Committee 

states that the provisions in House Resolution 496 that warranted 

a referral to the Committee on House Administration do not contain any congressional earmarks, limited tax benefits, or limited 

tariff benefits as defined in clause 9(e), 9(f), or 9(g) of rule XXI. 


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MINORITY VIEWS OF RANKING MEMBER ROBERT A. BRADY, 

REP. ZOE LOFGREN AND REP. CHARLES A. GONZALEZ 

Committee Democrats oppose this unprecedented committee 

defunding resolution which would reduce budgets by an average of 

6.4% during the second session. These cuts come just nine months 

after House Resolution 147 instituted an average cut of 5 percent 

in funding for each committee. 

As committee chairmen and ranking members repeatedly testified at our November 30, 2011, oversight hearing, this reduction in 

funding will undermine the House’s most fundamental legislative 

and oversight functions. The end result is likely to be an increase 

in total government spending as well as decreased efficiency, as 

was noted by many Republican Members at the hearing. The testimony of the chairs and ranking Members should be heeded. The 

rationale behind the biennial committee budgeting process, supposedly one of the great reforms of the Gingrich Republican Revolution of 1995, is being undermined. 

Testimony at our oversight hearing by both chairs and ranking 

members confirmed that additional budget cuts as contemplated by 

House Resolution 496 would have an adverse impact on both staff 

jobs and salaries. The resolution makes cuts just so we can say 

that we cut. The minority would be particularly hard hit. If the 

majority is contemplating additional cuts, they should be considered with the next biennial funding resolution, when proper notice 

and planning could occur at the committees. 

Committee Democrats unsuccessfully offered an amendment during the markup to provide 60 days severance pay to any committee 

staff dismissed as a result of passage of H. Res. 496. This is a common practice in the private sector. The amendment, which was defeated on a party-line vote, itself was based on House Resolution 

1104, brought to the Floor at the end of the 109th Congress by our 

former chairman, Vern Ehlers, with the support of Rep. Lungren. 

Unfortunately, that measure had been rejected by voice vote under 

suspension. 

As Rep. Lungren said in debate on H. Res. 1104: ‘‘I happen to 

be one of those who has been accused about not being concerned 

enough about staff, but the fact of the matter is, if we want small 

government to work well, we need to have good people to work 

here. I don’t know why we are taking the time tonight to berate, 

in essence, our people, to suggest that somehow they knew this was 

coming.’’ 

We told committees earlier this year that we were making a 5 

percent cut, and then we gave them their budgets for the 112th 

Congress. Committee chairs and ranking members planned and 

hired their staffs accordingly. That promise created at least a semblance of finality after the change of party majorities following the 


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2010 election, when the Democratic minority was forced to dismiss 

half of our former committee staff. 

We urge the defeat of House Resolution 496. 

ROBERT A. BRADY. 

ZOE LOFGREN. 

CHARLES A. GONZALEZ. 

Æ 


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