Victor Fazio: “I would like to point out the effects of this amendment in the legislature branch. The amendment to the disaster…”

“I would like to point out the effects of this amendment in the legislature branch. The amendment to the disaster supplemental rescinds 1.3 percent of the funds appropriated in the fiscal year 1994 Legislative Branch Appropriations Act. Also, House mail is rescinded by $2 million in another section of the amendment. Penny-Kasich had a comparable 7.5 percent rescission, but earlier in the year. At this point in the budget year, the 1.3 percent will probably equate to close to 3 percent of remaining balances. This assumes an early to mid-February approval of the bill by the President and 1 month to develop an employee and administrative cost-reduction plan to achieve the $34 million savings required. There are few options in the legislative branch in making reductions to current operations. The resources of the legislative branch are basically people and the computers and other administrative machinery that support the staff. Our employees are among the lowest in average salary in Federal service. For the approximately 30,000 legislative branch staff covered by this amendment, and assuming an average annual salary and benefit compensation of $50,000, a $34 million rescission would equate to about 1,360 staff--a 4rac{1}{2} ext{ percent staffing reduction.}”