Staff and Support Agencies Chapter 5 Section 5

Congressional Staff Role Lawmakers rely on congressional staffers to help them: –handle the growing workload of Congress, –communicate with voters, –run committee hearings and floor sessions, –draft new bills, –write committee reports, and –attend committee meetings.

Section 5 Congressional Staff Growth Congressional staffs grew as lawmaking became more complex after the early 1900s. Members of Congress needed a large office staff to deal with the many letters from people in their states or congressional districts.

Section 5 Personal Staff Personal staff members work directly for individual senators and representatives.Personal staff Committee staff members work for the many House and Senate committees.Committee staff

Section 5 Personal Staff (cont.) There are three types of personal staff members: –The administrative assistant runs the lawmaker’s office, supervises the lawmaker’s schedule, and gives advice on political matters.administrative assistant –The legislative assistants make certain that the lawmaker is well informed about the many bills with which she or he must deal.legislative assistants

Section 5 Personal Staff (cont.) –Caseworkers handle the many requests for help from a member’s constituents.Caseworkers

Section 5 Support Agencies Congress created several important support agencies, including: –The Library of Congress: largest library in the world, contains more than 100 million books, journals, music pieces, films, photographs, and maps. –The Congressional Budget Office (CBO): Help congress analyze and study the national budget, projects the costs of proposed programs.

Library of Congress

Section 5 Support Agencies (cont.) –The Government Accountability Office (GAO): Audits government programs to make sure that money is spent appropriately. –The Government Printing Office (GPO) Prints almost all publications produced by the three branches of government.