Relation of the Federal Government to Research 



It appears from the foregoing that, strictly speaking, 

 the legislative counsel is authorized to give this assist- 

 ance only to committees. In point of fact, this limita- 

 tion has not been observed. Thus, Mr. Beaman, legis- 

 lative counsel for the Senate, in testifying before the 

 House Committee on Appropriations in 1938, in sup- 

 port of the estimates for his oflBce for 1939, said : 



According to the law which created us, we are only author- 

 ized to work for the committees. We have, since the incep- 

 tion of the office, with the full knowledge of this subcommittee 

 and its predecessors, and the full committee and the leadership 

 of the House generally, aided individual Members to the extent 

 that it Is possible to do so without Interfering with our com- 

 mittee work. 



The tendency has been for the Members and com- 

 mittees to rely to a constantly increasing extent upon 

 these officers in the drafting of important legislation. 

 It is important to note, moreover, that the work of 

 the office does not cease with the first drafting of meas- 

 ures. As Mr. Frederic P. Lee, legislative comisel for 

 the Senate, points out in his extremely interesting ac- 

 count of the history and work of his office : *^ 



Commonly appearances are made before the committees of 

 either House in executive session. In addition, In the case of 

 important measures, members of the office are frequently on 

 the floor to assist the chairman of the committee or ranking 

 minority member. Also members of the office appear before 

 conference committees of the two Houses to aid In drafting 

 the agreements reached in conference and the preparation of 

 conference reports and statements of the managers of the 

 House. Appearances in committee are of the utmost importance 

 In executiag speedily and with accuracy the desires of the 

 committees and in presenting and explaining the legal con- 

 siderations involved in various drafts prepared. 



Finally, the officers do a large amount of research 

 work in the way of investigating and preparing memo- 

 randa on legal and other questions. Thus, to quote 

 again from Mr. Lee's article : 



A form of drafting aid that has developed since the creation 

 of the office is the preparation of memoranda or opinions in 

 response to requests either for legal materials or for the opinion 

 of the office in connection with pending legislative matters. 

 Compliance with such requests has taken up a substantial 

 portion of the time of members of the office. Usually the ques- 

 tions involved are the constitutional powers of the Congress or 

 the Interpretation of existing statutory law. The opinions may 

 be exemplified by those denying the authority of Congress to 

 regulate rents in the District of Columbia under the Federal 

 taxing power, but supporting the power of Congress to regulate 

 such rents, during the continuance of the emergency, under its 

 general police powers with respect to the District of Columbia ; 

 sustaining the constitutionality of the Packers and Stockyards 

 Act as a regulation of interstate and foreign commerce ; sus- 

 taining the constitutionality of the Ship Mortgage Act pro- 

 visions for foreclosure of vessel mortgages in the Federal 

 courts in admiralty ; denying the power of Congress to regu- 



" Frederic P. Lee, "The Office of LegrislaHve Council," OohtmHan Law 

 Review. April 1929. 



156 



late grain futures uuder the taxing powers ; supporting the 

 power of Congress to provide for a national referendum upon 

 the eighteenth amendment ; supporting the power of Congress 

 to enact the provisions of the Revenue Act of 1926 imposing a 

 Federal estate tax against which may be credited State in- 

 heritance taxes up to 80 percent of the amount of Federal 

 estate tax; and sustaining the power of the Senate to originate 

 a bill providing for a bond issue in connection with Boulder 

 Dam. Rarely are questions asked upon points which have 

 been decided by the courts. The Congress, inasmuch as it is 

 usually dealing with novel subject matters that have not yet 

 been the subject of litigation, must commonly deal with cor- 

 respondingly novel legal problems. 



A closely associated type of drafting aid is the preparation 

 of legal arguments to be included in committee reports which 

 are in support of the validity of proposed legislation. As illus- 

 trations there may be cited the arguments sustaining the 

 validity of the Air Commerce Act of 1926 and the validity of 

 the McNary-Haugen bill. 



In the case of opinions, the opinion given is that of the 

 office. The opinion is not a mere brief or argument written 

 to support a position previously taken by a committee or Mem- 

 bers of Congress. On the other hand, there are many instances 

 in which briefs or arguments are, upon request, written to 

 support a previously announced position without regard to 

 whether such position conforms to the legal views of the office. 

 Such briefs or arguments, however, do not, in any instance, pur- 

 port, as do formal opinions, to express the legal views of the 

 office. 



The importance of this office is partially indicated 

 by the size of its staff and compensation fund. As re- 

 ported to the House Committee on Appropriations at 

 its hearings in 1938 on the budgetary estimates for 

 1939, this staff and the compensation paid its members 

 in 1937 were as follows : 



House office: 



Legislative counsel $10, 000 



Assistant counsel 6, 500 



Assistant counsel 6, 000 



Assistant counsel 4, 100 



Assistant counsel 3, 100 



Clerk 3, 2S0 



Assistant clerk 1,800 



Total 34, 780 



Senate office: 



Legislative counsel 7, 200 



Assistant counsel 4, 200 



Assistant counsel 3, 000 



Law assistant 2, 400 



Law assistant 2, 100 



Clerk 3, 000 



Assistant clerk 2, 300 



Total 24, 400 



Total House and Senate offices 59,180 



Additional appropriations were made for general 



office expenses. 

 The extent to which the State legislatures have made 



provisions for the performance of the function of bill 



