§ 166. — Congressional Research Service.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 2USC166]
TITLE 2--THE CONGRESS
CHAPTER 5--LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
Sec. 166. Congressional Research Service
(a) Redesignation of Legislative Reference Service
The Legislative Reference Service in the Library of Congress is
hereby continued as a separate department in the Library of Congress and
is redesignated the ``Congressional Research Service''.
(b) Functions and objectives
It is the policy of Congress that--
(1) the Librarian of Congress shall, in every possible way,
encourage, assist, and promote the Congressional Research Service
in--
(A) rendering to Congress the most effective and efficient
service,
(B) responding most expeditiously, effectively, and
efficiently to the special needs of Congress, and
(C) discharging its responsibilities to Congress;
and
(2) the Librarian of Congress shall grant and accord to the
Congressional Research Service complete research independence and
the maximum practicable administrative independence consistent with
these objectives.
(c) Appointment and compensation of Director, Deputy Director, and other
necessary personnel; minimum grade for Senior Specialists;
placement in grades GS-16, 17, and 18 of Specialists and Senior
Specialists; appointment without regard to civil service laws
and political affiliation and on basis of fitness to perform
duties
(1) After consultation with the Joint Committee on the Library, the
Librarian of Congress shall appoint the Director of the Congressional
Research Service. The basic pay of the Director shall be at a per annum
rate equal to the rate of basic pay provided for level III of the
Executive Schedule under section 5314 of title 5.
(2) The Librarian of Congress, upon the recommendation of the
Director, shall appoint a Deputy Director of the Congressional Research
Service and all other necessary personnel thereof. The basic pay of the
Deputy Director shall be fixed in accordance with chapter 51 (relating
to classification) and subchapter III (relating to General Schedule pay
rates) of chapter 53 of title 5, but without regard to section 5108(a)
of such title. The basic pay of all other necessary personnel of the
Congressional Research Service shall be fixed in accordance with chapter
51 (relating to classification) and subchapter III (relating to General
Schedule pay rates) of chapter 53 of title 5, except that--
(A) the grade of Senior Specialist in each field within the
purview of subsection (e) of this section shall not be less than the
highest grade in the executive branch of the Government to which
research analysts and consultants, without supervisory
responsibility, are currently assigned; and
(B) the positions of Specialist and Senior Specialist in the
Congressional Research Service may be placed in GS-16, 17, and 18 of
the General Schedule of section 5332 of title 5, without regard to
section 5108(a) of such title, subject to the prior approval of the
Joint Committee on the Library, of the placement of each such
position in any of such grades.
(3) Each appointment made under paragraphs (1) and (2) of this
subsection and subsection (e) of this section shall be without regard to
the civil service laws, without regard to political affiliation, and
solely on the basis of fitness to perform the duties of the position.
(d) Duties of Service; assistance to Congressional committees; list of
terminating programs and subjects for analysis; legislative
data, studies, etc.; information research; digest of bills,
preparation; legislation, purpose and effect, and preparation of
memoranda; information and research capability, development
It shall be the duty of the Congressional Research Service, without
partisan bias--
(1) upon request, to advise and assist any committee of the
Senate or House of Representatives and any joint committee of
Congress in the analysis, appraisal, and evaluation of legislative
proposals within that committee's jurisdiction, or of
recommendations submitted to Congress, by the President or any
executive agency, so as to assist the committee in--
(A) determining the advisability of enacting such proposals;
(B) estimating the probable results of such proposals and
alternatives thereto; and
(C) evaluating alternative methods for accomplishing those
results;
and, by providing such other research and analytical services as the
committee considers appropriate for these purposes, otherwise to
assist in furnishing a basis for the proper evaluation and
determination of legislative proposals and recommendations
generally; and in the performance of this duty the Service shall
have authority, when so authorized by a committee and acting as the
agent of that committee, to request of any department or agency of
the United States the production of such books, records,
correspondence, memoranda, papers, and documents as the Service
considers necessary, and such department or agency of the United
States shall comply with such request; and further, in the
performance of this and any other relevant duty, the Service shall
maintain continuous liaison with all committees;
(2) to make available to each committee of the Senate and House
of Representatives and each joint committee of the two Houses, at
the opening of a new Congress, a list of programs and activities
being carried out under existing law scheduled to terminate during
the current Congress, which are within the jurisdiction of the
committee;
(3) to make available to each committee of the Senate and House
of Representatives and each joint committee of the two Houses, at
the opening of a new Congress, a list of subjects and policy areas
which the committee might profitably analyze in depth;
(4) upon request, or upon its own initiative in anticipation of
requests, to collect, classify, and analyze in the form of studies,
reports, compilations, digests, bulletins, indexes, translations,
and otherwise, data having a bearing on legislation, and to make
such data available and serviceable to committees and Members of the
Senate and House of Representatives and joint committees of
Congress;
(5) upon request, or upon its own initiative in anticipation of
requests, to prepare and provide information, research, and
reference materials and services to committees and Members of the
Senate and House of Representatives and joint committees of Congress
to assist them in their legislative and representative functions;
(6) to prepare summaries and digests of bills and resolutions of
a public general nature introduced in the Senate or House of
Representatives;
(7) upon request made by any committee or Member of the
Congress, to prepare and transmit to such committee or Member a
concise memorandum with respect to one or more legislative measures
upon which hearings by any committee of the Congress have been
announced, which memorandum shall contain a statement of the purpose
and effect of each such measure, a description of other relevant
measures of similar purpose or effect previously introduced in the
Congress, and a recitation of all action taken theretofore by or
within the Congress with respect to each such other measure; and
(8) to develop and maintain an information and research
capability, to include Senior Specialists, Specialists, other
employees, and consultants, as necessary, to perform the functions
provided for in this subsection.
(e) Specialists and Senior Specialists; appointment; fields of
appointment
The Librarian of Congress is authorized to appoint in the
Congressional Research Service, upon the recommendation of the Director,
Specialists and Senior Specialists in the following broad fields:
(1) agriculture;
(2) American government and public administration;
(3) American public law;
(4) conservation;
(5) education;
(6) engineering and public works;
(7) housing;
(8) industrial organization and corporation finance;
(9) international affairs;
(10) international trade and economic geography;
(11) labor and employment;
(12) mineral economics;
(13) money and banking;
(14) national defense;
(15) price economics;
(16) science;
(17) social welfare;
(18) taxation and fiscal policy;
(19) technology;
(20) transportation and communications;
(21) urban affairs;
(22) veterans' affairs; and
(23) such other broad fields as the Director may consider
appropriate.
Such Specialists and Senior Specialists, together with such other
employees of the Congressional Research Service as may be necessary,
shall be available for special work with the committees and Members of
the Senate and House of Representatives and the joint committees of
Congress for any of the purposes of subsection (d) of this section.
(f) Duties of Director; establishment and change of research and
reference divisions or other organizational units, or both
The Director is authorized--
(1) to classify, organize, arrange, group, and divide, from time
to time, as he considers advisable, the requests for advice,
assistance, and other services submitted to the Congressional
Research Service by committees and Members of the Senate and House
of Representatives and joint committees of Congress, into such
classes and categories as he considers necessary to--
(A) expedite and facilitate the handling of the individual
requests submitted by Members of the Senate and House of
Representatives,
(B) promote efficiency in the performance of services for
committees of the Senate and House of Representatives and joint
committees of Congress, and
(C) provide a basis for the efficient performance by the
Congressional Research Service of its legislative research and
related functions generally,
and
(2) to establish and change, from time to time, as he considers
advisable, within the Congressional Research Service, such research
and reference divisions or other organizational units, or both, as
he considers necessary to accomplish the purposes of this section.
(g) Budget estimates
The Director of the Congressional Research Service will submit to
the Librarian of Congress for review, consideration, evaluation, and
approval, the budget estimates of the Congressional Research Service for
inclusion in the Budget of the United States Government.
(h) Experts or consultants, individual or organizational, and persons
and organizations with specialized knowledge; procurement of
temporary or intermittent assistance; contracts, nonpersonal and
personal service; advertisement requirements inapplicable; end
product; pay; travel time
(1) The Director of the Congressional Research Service may procure
the temporary or intermittent assistance of individual experts or
consultants (including stenographic reporters) and of persons learned in
particular or specialized fields of knowledge--
(A) by nonpersonal service contract, without regard to any
provision of law requiring advertising for contract bids, with the
individual expert, consultant, or other person concerned, as an
independent contractor, for the furnishing by him to the
Congressional Research Service of a written study, treatise, theme,
discourse, dissertation, thesis, summary, advisory opinion, or other
end product; or
(B) by employment (for a period of not more than one year) in
the Congressional Research Service of the individual expert,
consultant, or other person concerned, by personal service contract
or otherwise, without regard to the position classification laws, at
a rate of pay not in excess of the per diem equivalent of the
highest rate of basic pay then currently in effect for the General
Schedule of section 5332 of title 5, including payment of such rate
for necessary travel time.
(2) The Director of the Congressional Research Service may procure
by contract, without regard to any provision of law requiring
advertising for contract bids, the temporary (for respective periods not
in excess of one year) or intermittent assistance of educational,
research, or other organizations of experts and consultants (including
stenographic reporters) and of educational, research, and other
organizations of persons learned in particular or specialized fields of
knowledge.
(i) Special report to Joint Committee on the Library
The Director of the Congressional Research Service shall prepare and
file with the Joint Committee on the Library at the beginning of each
regular session of Congress a separate and special report covering, in
summary and in detail, all phases of activity of the Congressional
Research Service for the immediately preceding fiscal year.
(j) Authorization of appropriations
There are hereby authorized to be appropriated to the Congressional
Research Service each fiscal year such sums as may be necessary to carry
on the work of the Service.
(Aug. 2, 1946, ch. 753, title II, Sec. 203, 60 Stat. 836; Oct. 28, 1949,
ch. 782, title XI, Sec. 1106(a), 63 Stat. 972; Pub. L. 91-510, title
III, Sec. 321(a), Oct. 26, 1970, 84 Stat. 1181; Pub. L. 99-190,
Sec. 133, Dec. 19, 1985, 99 Stat. 1322; Pub. L. 106-57, title II,
Sec. 209(b), Sept. 29, 1999, 113 Stat. 424.)
References in Text
The civil service laws, referred to in subsec. (c)(3), are set forth
in Title 5, Government Organization and Employees. See, particularly,
section 3301 et seq. of that title.
Amendments
1999--Subsec. (c)(1). Pub. L. 106-57 substituted second sentence for
former second sentence which read as follows: ``The basic pay of the
Director shall be at a per annum rate equal to the rate of basic pay
provided for level V of the Executive Schedule contained in section 5316
of title 5.''
1985--Subsec. (g). Pub. L. 99-190 amended subsec. (g) generally.
Prior to amendment subsec. (g) read as follows: ``In order to facilitate
the study, consideration, evaluation, and determination by the Congress
of the budget requirements of the Congressional Research Service for
each fiscal year, the Librarian of Congress shall receive from the
Director and submit, for inclusion in the Budget of the United States
Government, the budget estimates of the Congressional Research Service
which shall be prepared separately by the Director in detail for each
fiscal year as a separate item of the budget estimates of the Library of
Congress for such fiscal year.''
1970--Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 91-510 substituted provision for
continuation of Legislative Reference Service, redesignated
``Congressional Research Service'', for prior authorization for
establishment of Legislative Reference Service and deleted second
sentence, cls. (1) to (3), prescribing as duties of such Service for the
Congress and its committees, the giving of advice and assistance, making
data available, and preparing summaries and digests of public hearings
before committees and of bills and resolutions of public nature, which
was incorporated in subsec. (d)(1), (d)(4), and (d)(6), respectively, of
this section.
Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 91-510 added subsec. (b). Former subsec. (b)(1)
provided for appointment of director, assistant director, and other
necessary personnel of Legislative Reference Service, without regard to
civil-service laws, without reference to political affiliations, on
ground of fitness to perform duties of the office, for compensation in
accordance with Classification Act of 1949, with a prescribed minimum
for senior specialists in the various fields, and made all employees of
the Service subject to civil-service retirement laws, now incorporated
in subsec. (c)(1), (2)(A), and (3) of this section and sections
8331(1)(viii) and 8347(j) of Title 5, Government Organization and
Employees. Former subsec. (b)(2) provided for appointment of senior
specialists in certain enumerated fields and was covered in subsec. (e)
of this section.
Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 91-510 incorporated in provisions added as
subsec. (c) provisions of former subsec. (b) (1), and in revising them,
provided in par. (1) for consultation with Joint Committee on the
Library before appointment of Director and for basic pay rate of
Director equal to level V of Executive Schedule, provided in par. (2)
for appointment, upon recommendation of the Director, of a Deputy
Director and made references to classification and General Schedule pay
rate provisions of revised Title 5, reenacted as subpar. (A) proviso of
second sentence of former subsec. (b)(1), and added subpar. (B), and in
par. (3) reenacted part of first sentence of former subsec. (b)(1).
Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 91-510 incorporated in provisions added as
subsec. (d) second sentence, cls. (1) to (3), of former subsec. (a), and
in revising the provision, added pars. (2), (3), (5), (7), and (8),
substituted ``Congressional Research Service'' for ``Legislative
Reference Service'', reenacted introductory ``without partisan bias''
provision of former cl. (2), incorporated in par. (1) former cl. (1),
substituting ``proposals within that committee's jurisdiction'' for
``proposals pending before it'' and ``otherwise to assist in furnishing
a basis for the proper evaluation and determination of legislative
proposals and recommendations generally'' for ``otherwise to assist in
furnishing a basis for the proper determination of measures before the
committee'', added subpars. (A) to (C), provision for assistance by
providing other research and analytical services, authorization for
production of books, records, etc., compliance with request for such
production, and maintenance of liaison with all committees, incorporated
in par. (4) former cl. (2), substituting ``collect'' for ``gather'' and
including analysis in form of studies and reports, and making data
available to joint committees, and incorporated in par. (6) former cl.
(3), omitting provision respecting summaries and digests of public
hearings before committees of Congress.
Subsec. (e). Pub. L. 91-510 incorporated in provisions added as
subsec. (e) provisions of former subsec. (b)(2), and in revising them,
in introductory text, substituted ``Congressional Research Service'' for
``Legislative Reference Service'' and authorized appointments ``upon the
recommendation of the Director'', including Specialists; provided
numerical item designations for broad fields listed in prior paragraph
in run-on form, added fields of national defense, science, technology,
urban affairs, and other broad fields as deemed appropriate by the
Director in items (14), (16), (19), (21), and (23), and combined
separate fields of ``full employment'' and ``labor'' in ``labor and
employment'' in item (11); and in last sentence, included Senior
Specialists and substituted ``such other employees of the Congressional
Research Service'' for ``such other members of the staff'' and ``special
work with the committees and Members of the Senate and House of
Representatives and the joint committees of Congress for any of the
purposes of subsection (d) of this section'' for ``special work with the
appropriate committees of Congress for any of the purposes set out in
subsection (a)(1) of this section''.
Subsecs. (f) to (i). Pub. L. 91-510 added subsecs. (f) to (i).
Subsec. (j). Pub. L. 91-510 incorporated in provisions added as
subsec. (j) appropriations authorization of section 203(c) of Act Aug.
2, 1946, which had also provided $550,000, $650,000, and $750,000, for
fiscal years ending June 30, 1947, 1948, and 1949, respectively.
1949--Subsec. (b)(1). Act Oct. 28, 1949, substituted
``Classification Act of 1949'' for ``Classification Act of 1923''.
Effective Date of 1999 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 106-57 applicable with respect to the first pay
period which begins on or after Sept. 29, 1999 and each subsequent pay
period, see section 209(c) of Pub. L. 106-57, set out as a note under
section 136a-2 of this title.
Effective Date of 1970 Amendment
Amendment of provisions, other than enactment of subsecs. (d)(2),
(3) and (i) of this section, and enactment of subsecs. (d)(2), (3) and
(i) by Pub. L. 91-510 effective immediately prior to noon on Jan. 3,
1971, at the close of the first session of the Ninety-second Congress,
and with respect to fiscal years beginning on or after July 1, 1970,
respectively, see section 601(1), (3), and (4) of Pub. L. 91-510, set
out as a note under section 72a of this title.
Effective Date
Section effective Aug. 2, 1946, see section 245 of that act, set out
as a note under section 72a of this title.
Repeals
Act Oct. 28, 1949, ch. 782, cited as a credit to this section, was
repealed (subject to a savings clause) by Pub. L. 89-554, Sept. 6, 1966,
Sec. 8, 80 Stat. 632, 655.
References in Other Laws to GS-16, 17, or 18 Pay Rates
References in laws to the rates of pay for GS-16, 17, or 18, or to
maximum rates of pay under the General Schedule, to be considered
references to rates payable under specified sections of Title 5,
Government Organization and Employees, see section 529 [title I,
Sec. 101(c)(1)] of Pub. L. 101-509, set out in a note under section 5376
of Title 5.
Compensation of Director of Congressional Research Service
Pub. L. 105-275, title I, Oct. 21, 1998, 112 Stat. 2444, which
provided that the compensation of the Director of the Congressional
Research Service, Library of Congress, was to be at an annual rate equal
to the annual rate of basic pay for positions at level IV of the
Executive Schedule under section 5315 of title 5, was from the
Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 1999, and was not repeated in
subsequent appropriations acts. Similar provisions were contained in the
following prior appropriation acts:
Pub. L. 105-55, title I, Oct. 7, 1997, 111 Stat. 1190.
Pub. L. 104-197, title I, Sept. 16, 1996, 110 Stat. 2406.
Pub. L. 104-53, title I, Nov. 19, 1995, 109 Stat. 529.
Pub. L. 103-283, title I, July 22, 1994, 108 Stat. 1435.
Pub. L. 103-69, title I, Aug. 11, 1993, 107 Stat. 703.
Pub. L. 102-392, title I, Oct. 6, 1992, 106 Stat. 1715.
Pub. L. 102-90, title I, Aug. 14, 1991, 105 Stat. 460.
Pub. L. 101-520, title I, Nov. 5, 1990, 104 Stat. 2269.
Pub. L. 101-163, title I, Nov. 21, 1989, 103 Stat. 1057.
Pub. L. 100-458, title I, Oct. 1, 1988, 102 Stat. 2171.
Pub. L. 100-202, Sec. 101(i) [title I], Dec. 22, 1987, 101 Stat.
1329-290, 1329-303.
Pub. L. 99-500, Sec. 101(j) [H.R. 5203, title I], Oct. 18, 1986, 100
Stat. 1783-287, and Pub. L. 99-591, Sec. 101(j), Oct. 30, 1986, 100
Stat. 3341-287.
Pub. L. 99-151, title I, Nov. 13, 1985, 99 Stat. 802.
Pub. L. 98-367, title I, July 17, 1984, 98 Stat. 484.
