Congress Creates Own Private Bureaucracy

Congress Creates Own Private Bureaucracy
March 25, 1963
March 1963
Washington D.C.
original article

The Daily Nonpareil (Council Bluffs, IA)
original article

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In 1914 when Carl Vinson, a 31-year-old Democrat from Georgia, came to Congress for the first time, the entire staff was made up of one secretary, paid $125 a month. The law allowed him and all other congressmen no more. Today Vinson has four members on his staff. The average representative is allowed to hire up to nine at an overall cost of $4000 a month. The average senator usually hires more. And so may the congressional committees. In a rush to keep pace with the onslaught of modern pressures, Congress has created its own private bureaucracy that now numbers more than 7,000 people and costs more than $50 million a year. There’s a chance it soon will get bigger and costlier. This week the House will debate a proposal, approved by its Administration Committee, to increase the office expenses of each congressman by $10,506 a year so he can add still another employee to his payroll. The huge bureaucracy on Capitol Hill has provoked criticism particularly from Sen. Allen J. Ellender, D-La., who leads a futile fight each year to wipe out a good number of the Senate's subcommittee staffs...
In 1914 when Carl Vinson, a 31-year-old Democrat from Georgia, came to Congress for the first time, the entire staff was made up of one secretary, paid $125 a month. The law allowed him and all other congressmen no more. Today Vinson has four members on his staff. The average representative is allowed to hire up to nine at an overall cost of $4000 a month. The average senator usually hires more. And so may the congressional committees. In a rush to keep pace with the onslaught of modern pressures, Congress has created its own private bureaucracy that now numbers more than 7,000 people and costs more than $50 million a year. There’s a chance it soon will get bigger and costlier. This week the House will debate a proposal, approved by its Administration Committee, to increase the office expenses of each congressman by $10,506 a year so he can add still another employee to his payroll. The huge bureaucracy on Capitol Hill has provoked criticism particularly from Sen. Allen J. Ellender, D-La., who leads a futile fight each year to wipe out a good number of the Senate's subcommittee staffs...
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