2 U.S.C. § 60
Section 60 · Authority of officers of Congress over Congressional employees
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 4 court decisions — leading case Buckley v. Valeo (1976)
Most recently applied in 650 F. Supp. 2d 11 - Toms v. Office of the Architect of the Capitol (September 2009)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Each officer of the Congress having responsibility for the supervision of employees, including employees appointed upon recommendation of Members of Congress, shall have authority—
(1) to determine, before the appointment of any individual as an employee under the supervision of that officer of the Congress, whether that individual possesses the qualifications necessary for the satisfactory performance of the duties and responsibilities to be assigned to him; and
(2) to remove or otherwise discipline any employee under his supervision.
As used in this section, the term “officer of the Congress” means—
(1) an elected officer of the Senate or House of Representatives who is not a Member of the Senate or House; and
(2) The Architect of the Capitol.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Effective Date
Section effective immediately prior to noon on Jan. 3, 1971, see section 601(1) of Pub. L. 91–510, set out as an Effective Date of 1970 Amendment note under section 72a of this title.
Reduction in Number of Employee Positions; Reports
Pub. L. 103–69, title III, §307, Aug. 11, 1993, 107 Stat. 710, as amended by Pub. L. 103–283, title III, §305, July 22, 1994, 108 Stat. 1441, provided that:
“(a) The number of employee positions, on a full-time equivalent basis, for each covered entity shall be reduced by at least 4 percent from the level, other than those supported by gift and trust funds, as of September 30, 1992, or, with the approval of the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate, as of a later date, but not later than September 30, 1993.
“(b) The reduction required by subsection (a) shall be completed not later than September 30, 1995, with at least 62.5 percent of the reduction for each covered entity to be achieved by September 30, 1994.
“(c) The Comptroller General shall carry out compliance reporting under this section.
“(d) As used in this section—
“(1) the term ‘covered entity’ means an entity of the legislative branch with more than 100 employee positions, on a full-time equivalent basis, as of September 30, 1992; and
“(2) the term ‘entity of the legislative branch’ means the House of Representatives, the Senate, the Office of the Architect of the Capitol (including the Botanic Garden), the Capitol Police, the Congressional Budget Office, the Copyright Royalty Tribunal, the General Accounting Office, the Government Printing Office, the Library of Congress, and the Office of Technology Assessment.”
Cross References
Performance of duties by employees of House, see section 85 of this title.