§6918 Staff of the Commission

Summary

Creates a personnel and administration committee made up of the Chairman, the Cochairman, the Commission’s senior member from the House minority, and the Commission’s senior member from the Senate minority. The committee must approve hiring, firing, and pay decisions by a majority vote, except the Chairman may appoint and set pay for the staff director and the Cochairman may appoint and set pay for the Cochairman’s senior staff member. The Chairman and Cochairman may each appoint, with committee approval, at least four professional staff who report to them. The committee can hire other staff as needed. Staff are hired outside the usual federal competitive and pay rules in title 5. The committee must make sure professional staff have expertise in areas like human rights, worker rights, international economics and law, rule of law and aid programming, Chinese politics/economy/culture, and the Chinese language. For pay and benefits, Commission employees count as congressional employees under section 2107 of title 5, and for competitive‑status rules they are treated as if paid by the Secretary of the Senate or the Clerk of the House for purposes of section 3304(i)(1) of title 5.