Title 15, Commerce and TradeRelease 119-110
§1024 Joint Economic Committee
Title 15 › CHAPTER 21 — NATIONAL POLICY ON EMPLOYMENT AND PRODUCTIVITY › § 1024
Summary
Creates a Joint Economic Committee made up of 20 members: 10 Senators chosen by the President of the Senate and 10 Representatives chosen by the Speaker of the House. Each party gets six members if it is the majority and four if it is the minority. The committee studies the President’s Economic Report, looks for ways to coordinate government programs, and must file a report with Congress each year by March 1 (starting in 1947) that gives its findings and recommendations on each main presidential recommendation. Vacancies do not stop the committee and are filled the same way. The committee picks its own chair and vice chair. The committee can hold hearings, hire experts and staff, buy printing, and spend money as needed within its budget. Stenographic costs for hearings are capped at 25 cents per 100 words. It may use government departments and private research agencies. Congress may fund the committee each fiscal year, and the Secretary of the Senate pays bills signed by the chair or vice chair, except annual salaries, which need no vouchers. One person may serve part-time as attorney or expert for the committee during the investigation authorized by Senate Concurrent Resolution 26, Eighty-first Congress, without being treated as covered by sections 281, 283, or 284 of title 18 or other federal employment-restriction laws.
Full Legal Text
Title 15, §1024
Commerce and Trade, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
(a)Composition
There is established a Joint Economic Committee, to be composed of ten Members of the Senate, to be appointed by the President of the Senate, and ten Members of the House of Representatives, to be appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives. In each case, the majority party shall be represented by six Members and the minority party shall be represented by four Members.
(b)Functions
It shall be the function of the joint committee—
(1)to make a continuing study of matters relating to the Economic Report;
(2)to study means of coordinating programs in order to further the policy of this chapter; and
(3)as a guide to the several committees of the Congress dealing with legislation relating to the Economic Report, not later than March 1 of each year (beginning with the year 1947) to file a report with the Senate and the House of Representatives containing its findings and recommendations with respect to each of the main recommendations made by the President in the Economic Report, and from time to time to make such other reports and recommendations to the Senate and House of Representatives as it deems advisable.
(c)Vacancies; selection of chairman and vice chairman
Vacancies in the membership of the joint committee shall not affect the power of the remaining members to execute the functions of the joint committee, and shall be filled in the same manner as in the case of the original selection. The joint committee shall select a chairman and a vice chairman from among its members.
(d)Hearings; employment and compensation of personnel; cost of stenographic services; utilization of Government services and private research agencies
The joint committee, or any duly authorized subcommittee thereof, is authorized to hold such hearings as it deems advisable, and, within the limitations of its appropriations, the joint committee is empowered to appoint and fix the compensation of such experts, consultants, technicians, and clerical and stenographic assistants, to procure such printing and binding, and to make such expenditures, as it deems necessary and advisable. The cost of stenographic services to report hearings of the joint committee, or any subcommittee thereof, shall not exceed 25 cents per hundred words. The joint committee is authorized to utilize the services, information, and facilities of the departments and establishments of the Government, and also of private research agencies.
(e)Appropriations
To enable the joint committee to exercise its powers, functions, and duties under this chapter, there are authorized to be appropriated for each fiscal year such sums as may be necessary, to be disbursed by the Secretary of the Senate on vouchers signed by the chairman or vice chairman, except that vouchers shall not be required for the disbursement of salaries of employees paid at an annual rate.
(f)Service as attorney or expert for committee
Service of one individual, until the completion of the investigation authorized by Senate Concurrent Resolution 26, Eighty-first Congress, as an attorney or expert for the joint committee, in any business or professional field, on a part-time basis, with or without compensation, shall not be considered as service or employment bringing such individual within the provisions of section 281, 283, or 284 of title 18, or of any other Federal law imposing restrictions, requirements, or penalties in relation to the employment of persons, the performance of services, or the payment or receipt of compensation in connection with any claim, proceeding, or matter involving the United States.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Editorial Notes
References in Text
section 281 and 283 of title 18, referred to in subsec. (f), were repealed by Pub. L. 87–849, § 2, Oct. 23, 1962, 76 Stat. 1126, except as they may apply to retired officers of the armed forces of the United States, and were supplanted by section 203 and 205 of Title 18, Crimes and Criminal Procedure. Section 284 of title 18, referred to in subsec. (f), was repealed by Pub. L. 87–849, § 2, Oct. 23, 1962, 76 Stat. 1126, and was supplanted by section 207 of title 18.
Amendments
1974—Subsec. (e). Pub. L. 93–554 inserted exception relating to requirement of vouchers for the disbursement of salaries of employees paid at an annual rate. 1967—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 90–2 substituted “ten”, “six”, and “four” for “eight”, “five”, and “three”, respectively. 1964—Subsec. (e). Pub. L. 88–661 authorized appropriations for such sums as may be necessary for each fiscal year and eliminated provisions which limited the authorization to a maximum of $125,000 yearly. 1959—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 86–1 added one additional Senator and one Representative to the Committee, and substituted provisions requiring the majority party to be represented by five Members and the minority party to be represented by three Members for provisions which required representation to reflect as nearly as may be feasible the relative membership of the majority and minority parties. 1956—Subsec. (a). Act June 19, 1956, substituted “Joint Economic Committee” for “Joint Committee on the Economic Report”. 1949—Subsec. (e). Act Oct. 6, 1949, § 1, substituted “$125,000” for “$50,000”. Subsec. (f). Act Oct. 6, 1949, § 2, added subsec. (f). 1948—Subsec. (b)(3). Act Feb. 2, 1948, substituted “March 1” for “February 1”. 1946—Subsec. (b)(3). Act Aug. 2, 1946, substituted “February 1” for “May 1”.
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Effective Date
of 1974 Amendment Pub. L. 93–554 provided that the amendment made by Pub. L. 93–554 is effective Jan. 1, 1975.
Effective Date
of 1946 AmendmentAmendment by act Aug. 2, 1946, effective Aug. 2, 1946, see section 245 of that act, set out as a note under section 4301 of Title 2, The Congress. Senate Members of Joint Economic Committee for 107th Congress Pub. L. 107–20, title II, § 2806,
July 24, 2001, 115 Stat. 185, provided: “That notwithstanding any other provision of law, and specifically section 5(a) of the Employment Act of 1946 (15 U.S.C. 1024(a)), the Members of the Senate to be appointed by the President of the Senate shall for the duration of the One Hundred Seventh Congress, be represented by six Members of the majority party and five Members of the minority party.” Similar provisions were contained in Pub. L. 107–3, Mar. 13, 2001, 115 Stat. 5. Agency Contributions for Employees of Joint Economic Committee Pub. L. 106–554, § 1(a)(2) [title I, § 7], Dec. 21, 2000, 114 Stat. 2763, 2763A–98, provided that: “(a) Agency contributions for employees whose salaries are disbursed by the Secretary of the Senate from the appropriations account ‘Joint Economic Committee’ under the heading ‘JOINT ITEMS’ shall be paid from the Senate appropriations account for ‘Salaries, Officers and Employees’. “(b) This section shall apply to pay periods beginning on or after
October 1, 2000.”
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
15 U.S.C. § 1024
Title 15, Commerce and Trade
Last Updated
Sep 23, 2026
Release point: 119-110