CBA (Contents)

Congressional Budget Act of 1974

Section 701

TITLE VII – PROGRAM REVIEW AND EVALUATION

review and evaluation of standing committees

Sec. 701. Section 136(a) of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 (2 U.S.C 190d) is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new sentences: “Such committees may carry out the required analysis, appraisal, and evaluation themselves or by contract, or may require a Government agency to do so and furnish a report thereon to the Congress. Such committees may rely on such techniques as pilot testing, analysis of costs in comparison with benefits, or provisions for evaluation after a defined period of time.”

Previous: Section 507 (FCRA)	Next: Section 702 (CBA)

Counsel Notes

See also section 903 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974.

Codification

This section was not separately classified to the U.S. Code.

---

Legislative History Notes

PUBLIC LAWS

Pub. L. 93–344, title VII, §701, July 12, 1974, 88 Stat. 325

Section 701 was included in the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974, as originally enacted.

Amending the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946

Section 190d of Title 2 of the U.S. Code (As Amended by This Section)

§190d. Legislative review by standing committees of the Senate and the House of Representatives.

(a) Scope of assistance

In order to assist the Congress in—

(1) its analysis, appraisal, and evaluation of the application, administration, and execution of the laws enacted by the Congress, and

(2) its formulation, consideration, and enactment of such modifications of or changes in those laws, and of such additional legislation, as may be necessary or appropriate,

each standing committee of the Senate and the House of Representatives shall review and study, on a continuing basis, the application, administration, and execution of those laws, or parts of laws, the subject matter of which is within the jurisdiction of that committee. Such committees may carry out the required analysis, appraisal, and evaluation themselves, or by contract, or may require a Government agency to do so and furnish a report thereon to the Congress. Such committees may rely on such techniques as pilot testing, analysis of costs in comparison with benefits, or provision for evaluation after a defined period of time.^[1]  

(b) Reports to the Senate and the House of Representatives

In each odd-numbered year beginning on or after January 1, 1973, each standing committee of the Senate shall submit, not later than March 31, to the Senate, and each standing committee of the House shall submit, not later than January 2, to the House, a report on the activities of that committee under this section during the Congress ending at noon on January 3 of such year.

(c) Exceptions

The preceding provisions of this section do not apply to the Committees on Appropriations and the Budget of the Senate and the Committees on Appropriations, the Budget, House Oversight, Rules, and Standards of Official Conduct of the House.^[2] 

Section 136 of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946

Section 701 of the Budget Act amends section 136 of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 (Pub. L. 79-601; Chapter 753, 60 Stat. 812, 832; August 2, 1946).  After its enactment, this latter Act  amended by section 118 (Legislative Review by Standing Committees)  of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970. The amendment entirely replaced the 1946 Act section (amended “to read as follows”).  

Before section 701 was enacted, section 136 was again amended, in an odd coincidence, by Pub. L. 92-136, which did not have a short title, It did have the following long title: “To amend section 136 of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 to correct an omission in existing law with respect to the entitlement of the committees of the House of Representatives to use certain currencies.”  

The amendment also was a complete replacement of the section, and hence this is the text that the drafters of the Budget Act were amending in section 701.

See also sec. 903(b) (CBA) which exempts certain committees, including House and Senate Budget Committees from the “Activities Reports” requirements as set forth in section 136(c) of the 1946 Act. The Senate explicitly repealed that exception in 1979 and the House has amended its requirement related to Committee activities report requirements.

Joint Explanatory Statement on the Committee of Conference on H.R. 7130 (1975)^[3]

TITLE VII. PROGRAM REVIEW and EVALUATION

Section 701. Review and Evaluation by Committees

The Senate amendment authorized congressional committees to use pilot testing and analytic techniques in the evaluation of Federal programs.

The conference substitute is the same as the Senate provision. It amends the 1946 Legislative Reorganization Act to provide that committees may conduct testing or analysis themselves or require agencies to evaluate programs and report the results to them.

Legislative History ENDNOTES

[1]  The text in italics were added by this section (section 701 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974). 

[2] §903(b) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, substituted “Committees on Appropriations and the Budget of the Senate and the Committees on Appropriations, the Budget,” for “Committee on Appropriations of the Senate and the Committee on Appropriations,”.

[3] Joint Explanatory Statement on the Committee of Conference on H.R. 7130; (Committee Print), Committee on the Budget, House of Representatives, 93d Congress, 2d Session, Washington D.C. 1975.

Previous: Section 507 (FCRA)	Next: Section 702 (CBA)

 

[BCR § 161]