|
SITE INDEX |
| TV Schedule | LIVE TV/Radio | Community | Classroom | Affiliates | Shop | About C-SPAN | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
There are no uniform personnel standards in Congress. Each Member or committee establishes their own personnel policies. Practices regarding sick leave or vacation time vary greatly. Most offices allow staff to take time off only when Congress is not in session. Some staff positions are held to a 40-hour week, with compensatory or overtime pay beyond that. Other positions are treated as salaried professionals who work as needed, with no extra compensation or overtime. Often the House and Senate are in late at night, and many staff aides are expected to remain on the job until their chamber adjourns. Hours are made up on an informal basis when the Congress is not in session. Categories of staff and their approximate number include:
Personal Staff A House Member employs an average of 14 staff; the Senate average is 34. House Members may not exceed 18 full-time staff, and 4 part-time. Senators have no limit on the number of staff they can hire. Their staff budget depends on the size of the population of the state they represent – California Senators get a lot more money for staff than do the Senators from Montana, for example. Each Member of Congress can distribute staff among their Washington and District/State offices as they wish. In practice, staff salaries vary widely from office to office. The following average salaries are provided by the Congressional Management Foundation [CMF]. For more information, visit the Congressional Management Foundation website. CMF is a Washington-D.C. based research and management consulting firm, serving primarily congressional clients. It conducts regular surveys on congressional salaries and staff practices. Chief of Staff: Runs the office and is the Member's top political advisor. Legislative Director: Plans legislative initiatives and strategies; supervises other legislative staff. Legislative Assistant: Specializes in specific issues, monitoring bills and committee meetings in those areas; drafts floor statements and responses to constituent mail. Legislative Correspondent: Answers all constituent communications; drafts routine responses. Press Secretary/Communications Director: Liaison for the local and national press; drafts press releases. Executive/Personal Assistant: Right-hand to the Member; in many cases also the scheduler. Office Manager: Supervises support staff; manages official accounts; buys/maintains equipment. Computer Systems/Mail Manager: Maintains the computer network and correspondence management system. State/District Director: Heads home state office(s); political liaison to local community. Projects/Grants Coordinator: Seeks federal funding for District/State projects and institutions. Caseworker/Constituent Services: Provides mediation services to constituents, dealing with federal agency questions/problems; obtains government information and publications. For more specific information on salaries, see the earlier Capitol Question on salaries and expenditures of the U.S. Congress.
Committee Staff Committee staff fall into either professional or administrative/support staff categories. Professional staff positions include: Staff Director, Counsel, Professional Staff Member, Press Secretary, Investigator, and Specialist/Consultant. Administrative staff include: Chief Clerk [office manager], Documents Clerk, Scheduler, clerical assistants. Unfortunately, individual committee staff salaries cannot be easily calculated. Professional staff work with the committee's leadership to plan the legislative and oversight agendas, draft legislation, write committee reports, plan hearings and mark-ups, provide support to Members during committee sessions, floor debate, and conference negotiations. Professional staff also maintain an ongoing review of federal programs within the committee's jurisdiction, both formally through oversight activities and informally through meetings and conversations with federal officials. Administrative staff handle all the logistics for hearings and other committee meetings, maintain committee records, administer the committee's funds, distribute documents, schedule and work with witnesses, answer mail and phone inquiries from the public. More information about congressional staff can be obtained from the office of a Member of Congress. The Congressional Research Service issued several brief reports on the subject in 1999, among them: "Congressional Staff: Duties and Functions," "Committee Funding and Staff in the House," and "Committee Funding and Staff in the Senate." CRS reports are free, but available only upon request from a congressional office. There are also commercial congressional staff directories for sale in both print and on-line versions. For more information, visit the Congressional Quarterly and Leadership Directories websites. _______________________________________ *For more details, see "Vital Statistics on Congress, 1999-2000" by Norman Ornstein, Thomas Mann, and Michael Malbin, American Enterprise Institute, 1999.
| |||||||||||||||||||
© 2000, National Cable Satellite Corporation
|
