Civics & Government · 9th Grade · The Legislative Branch: The People's House · Weeks 1-9

Congressional Staff and Support Agencies

Investigating the role of staff, the CBO, GAO, and CRS in supporting legislative work.

• Common Core State Standards
• C3: D2.Civ.1.9-12
• C3: D2.Civ.6.9-12

About This Topic

A typical House member manages a staff of around 18 people; senators run offices of 40 or more. These staff members draft legislation, manage constituent services, conduct policy research, communicate with lobbying groups, and prepare members for floor votes and committee hearings. Personal staff are loyal to their member; committee staff -- often the most specialized -- serve the committee as an institution and develop deep expertise in the panel's jurisdiction over many years.

Beyond personal and committee staff, Congress relies on three major support agencies: the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) provides independent cost estimates for legislation; the Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigates how executive agencies spend funds and implement programs; and the Congressional Research Service (CRS) produces nonpartisan research reports on nearly any policy topic on request. These agencies make it possible for Congress to exercise meaningful oversight of a vast executive branch without depending entirely on executive agencies for information.

Active learning helps students see that legislating is a collaborative institutional process, not just individual members casting votes. Simulation activities that include staff roles -- researcher, constituent liaison, floor manager -- reveal the full picture of how a bill actually moves.

Key Questions

1. Analyze the importance of congressional staff in the legislative process.
2. Explain how support agencies like the CBO provide non-partisan analysis.
3. Evaluate the impact of staff expertise on the quality of legislation.

Learning Objectives

• Analyze the specific tasks performed by congressional personal and committee staff in drafting legislation and managing constituent services.
• Explain the non-partisan role of the CBO, GAO, and CRS in providing objective information to Congress.
• Evaluate how the specialized expertise of congressional staff and support agencies impacts the quality and feasibility of proposed laws.
• Compare the information-gathering functions of the GAO and CRS in supporting congressional oversight of the executive branch.

Before You Start

Structure and Powers of the Legislative Branch

Why: Students need a foundational understanding of Congress's role and basic functions to appreciate how staff and agencies support its work.

The Bill-to-Law Process

Why: Understanding the steps a bill takes is essential for grasping where staff and support agencies intervene and contribute.

Key Vocabulary

Congressional Staff	Individuals hired to assist members of Congress and committees with legislative duties, constituent services, and office management.
Congressional Budget Office (CBO)	An independent, non-partisan federal agency that provides objective, impartial analysis of budgetary and economic issues to support the congressional budget process.
Government Accountability Office (GAO)	An independent, non-partisan agency that works for Congress, auditing federal agencies and programs to ensure accountability and efficiency in government spending.
Congressional Research Service (CRS)	A research arm of the Library of Congress that provides policy and legal analysis to members of Congress and their staff on a wide range of topics.
Legislative Aide	A type of congressional staff member responsible for researching policy issues, drafting legislation, and advising a member of Congress on specific subject matters.

Watch Out for These Misconceptions

Common Misconception

Members of Congress personally write the laws they sponsor.

What to Teach Instead

Most bill drafting is done by staff, sometimes in collaboration with the Office of Legislative Counsel (a separate nonpartisan drafting service). A member sets priorities and reviews the final product, but the technical drafting -- statutory language, cross-references to existing law, appropriations amounts -- is largely staff work. This is not a criticism; it reflects the genuine complexity of modern legislation.

Common Misconception

Congressional support agencies like the CBO work for the majority party.

What to Teach Instead

The CBO, GAO, and CRS are explicitly nonpartisan by design. The CBO director is appointed jointly by leadership of both chambers, and career staff are professional analysts, not political appointees. Both parties have at times disputed specific CBO estimates, but the agency uses consistent analytical methods regardless of who controls Congress.

Common Misconception

Congressional staff are administrative support who answer phones and schedule meetings.

What to Teach Instead

Senior congressional staff -- chiefs of staff, legislative directors, senior policy advisors -- often have longer institutional memories than the members themselves and develop expertise that makes them influential in shaping legislation. Staff relationships with committee counterparts, agency officials, and outside experts are the connective tissue of the policy process. When members change, experienced staff provide crucial continuity.

Active Learning Ideas

Role-Play: Staff the Committee

Groups of five play a congressional committee working on a technology regulation bill. Students are assigned staff roles: legislative director (drafts language), policy analyst (reviews CBO score), constituent liaison (fields interest group calls), communications director (prepares the member's statement), and chief of staff (coordinates the team). Groups simulate one day of pre-markup preparation.

50 min·Small Groups

Gallery Walk: What Support Agencies Produce

Four stations feature real examples of a CBO cost estimate, a GAO report summary, a CRS research brief, and a Government Publishing Office document. Students annotate each example: What question was this agency answering? For whom? What decision did it inform? Debrief discusses why nonpartisan analysis matters and what would happen without it.

30 min·Small Groups

Think-Pair-Share: Is Non-Partisan Analysis Possible?

After reading brief descriptions of CBO methodology, students discuss with a partner whether any policy analysis can truly be nonpartisan, and whether legislators actually trust CBO findings when the numbers are inconvenient. Debrief surfaces the distinction between political neutrality in process and analytical objectivity in methods.

20 min·Pairs

Real-World Connections

• A legislative director for a U.S. Senator in Washington D.C. works with committee staff and CBO analysts to refine a bill's language and understand its potential economic impact before it goes to the Senate floor.
• Investigative journalists often rely on reports from the GAO to uncover inefficiencies or potential waste in federal agency operations, informing public discourse and congressional oversight efforts.
• Policy advisors for think tanks, such as the Brookings Institution or the Heritage Foundation, often engage with CRS reports to inform their own research and policy recommendations for lawmakers.

Assessment Ideas

Quick Check

Provide students with a short, hypothetical legislative proposal. Ask them to identify which support agency (CBO, GAO, CRS) would be most relevant for analyzing different aspects of the bill and explain why in one sentence for each.

Discussion Prompt

Pose the question: 'How might the absence of non-partisan support agencies like the CBO and GAO affect the balance of power between Congress and the Executive Branch?' Facilitate a class discussion, encouraging students to cite specific functions of these agencies.

Exit Ticket

Ask students to write down two distinct roles played by congressional staff and one specific way a support agency contributes to the legislative process, citing at least one agency by name.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many staff does a member of Congress have?

House members typically have 14-18 personal staff split between their DC and district offices. Senators have larger offices, often 35-45 staff, reflecting their broader statewide responsibilities. Committee staff are additional -- major committees like Ways and Means or Appropriations employ dozens of professional staff who develop specialized expertise over years in the committee's jurisdiction.

What does the Government Accountability Office do?

The GAO investigates how federal programs are implemented and whether agencies are spending money as Congress intended. Requested by members and committees, GAO reports can expose fraud, inefficiency, or program failures in executive agencies. The findings often form the basis for oversight hearings and corrective legislation, giving Congress a tool for holding the executive branch accountable between elections.

Are CRS reports available to the public?

CRS reports were long available only to members and staff, who could share them at their discretion. Since 2018, the Consolidated Appropriations Act requires CRS to make most reports publicly available through its public website. This gives citizens access to the same nonpartisan policy analyses that Congress relies on, covering thousands of topics from tax policy to foreign affairs.

Why does understanding congressional staff matter for active learning in civics?

Staff and support agencies are the hidden infrastructure of lawmaking. When students simulate the legislative process with assigned staff roles -- drafting language, reviewing CBO scores, briefing the member -- they develop a much more realistic picture of how legislation actually moves. This grounds policy discussions in institutional reality rather than the simplified model where members alone decide all outcomes.