House Spares Office of Technology Assessment From Ax in Second Vote

House Republican leaders, retreating in the face of charges that they “stole” a vote to dismantle the congressional Office of Technology Assessment, allowed a second count Thursday that revived the obscure agency.

The action cleared the way for passage of a $1.7-billion bill to finance Congress’ operations for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1. The bill was approved by a vote of 337 to 87.

The bill appropriates $155 million less than is being spent this year--an 8% reduction--and makes good on House Republicans’ promise to cut committee staffs by a third and eliminate a range of costly perquisites paid for by the taxpayers.

In two frequently tumultuous days of debate, the House voted to bar the use of funds for unsolicited mass mailings by lawmakers who are scheduled to face the voters in less than 90 days.

But lawmakers rejected a bid to restrict to their 1995 levels the allowances used by House members for their official mailings and for renting and equipping district office space and paying their staffs. They also refused to kill funds for elevator operators in House office buildings.

Among congressional services that would be discontinued or put in the hands of private contractors is one of the icons of congressional privilege--the House barbershop, where lawmakers and their staffs still can get haircuts by barbers on the federal payroll for about $10.

House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Tex.) said that the decision to vote again on the fate of the Office of Technology Assessment was made in the interest of maintaining comity. Two Democrats had charged that they were denied a chance to vote during a Wednesday roll call that ended, 214 to 213, in favor of killing the office.

“It’s important to this member that the victories we win are honorable,” Armey said in a speech on the House floor. Lawmakers, he added, should all “put the honor and dignity of this body ahead of the politics of the moment.”

While the House leaders’ failure to kill the Office of Technology Assessment appeared to represent a victory for good legislative manners, some Republicans fretted that it signaled Congress’ inability to eliminate an office outright.

“This vote is a vote to determine whether there is a serious commitment to downsizing our own agencies and starting downsizing [of] government right here within our legislative branch,” said Rep. Ron Packard (R-Oceanside), chairman of the Appropriations subcommittee that drafted the bill.

But 31 Republicans joined with 189 Democrats to save the technology office, which helps Congress judge scientific and technological advances. Lawmakers agreed to trim $4.6 million from the office’s current budget of $22 million.