congressional findings and declaration of policy with respect to top grades of classification act of 1949

congressional findings and declaration of policy with respect to top grades of classification act of 1949 Sec. 101. (a) The Congress hereby finds that— (1) the public interest requires that effective limitations and controls be established and maintained with respect to the allocation of positions—whether by law or by administrative action—to grades 16, 17, and 18 of the Classification Act of 1949—the so-called top grades below the Federal executive level in the Government service—in order to prevent the unwarranted allocation of positions to such grades and to promote efficiency and economy in the operation of the Government; (2) one of the principal purposes of the Classification Act of 1949, as originally enacted and as amended from time to time, was, and continues to be, the establishment and maintenance, by specific provisions of such Act, of a coordinated and comprehensive authority and control over the allocation of positions to these top grades of such Act; (3) under the rules of the Senate and the rules of the House of Representatives, as applicable, and the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946, the Committee on Post Office and Civil Service of the Senate and the Committee on Post Office and Civil Service of the House of Representatives are vested with exclusive legislative jurisdiction, and charged with the duty of exercising legislative oversight and supervision, with respect to all matters within the purview of the Classification Act of 1949 and the administration thereof, including the allocation of positions to these top grades of such Act; (4) this legislative authority, duty, and jurisdiction of such committees, and the orderly and established legislative processes of the Congress generally in this respect, are being undermined by the increasing practice, resulting from certain solicitations from individual departments and agencies in the executive branch and elsewhere, of allocating additional numbers of positions to such top grades by means of appropriation Acts and other laws and reorganization plans (other than the Classification Act of 1949) which disregard the numerical limitations or the standards and procedures, or both, with respect to the allocation of positions to such grades; (5) at the present time, therefore, the pertinent provisions of the Classification Act of 1949 do not reflect, even by approximation, the existing state of the law with respect to the total number of positions which may be allocated to the top grades of such Act; and (6) this state of affairs subverts and undermines the object and purpose of the Classification Act of 1949 with respect to the allocation of positions to such top grades of such Act. 75 Stat. 786 (b) It is, therefore, hereby declared to be the sense of the Congress— (1) that the matter of requesting the allocation of additional numbers of positions to the top grades of the Classification Act of 1949, whether by groups of positions or on an individual basis, is properly within the jurisdiction of those standing committees of the Senate and House of Representatives having jurisdiction over the Classification Act of 1949 in accordance with orderly and established legislative processes—the Committee on Post Office and Civil Service of the Senate and the Committee on Post Office and Civil Service of the House of Representatives; (2) that the Director of the Bureau of the Budget, the United States Civil Service Commission, and other authority designated by the President exercise to the fullest extent the authority and responsibility of disapproving requests of the departments and agencies in the executive branch for individual exceptions (to be attained through the enactment of laws outside the jurisdiction of the committees above referred to) from the numerical limitations or the standards and procedures, or both, imposed by the Classification Act of 1949 with respect to the allocation of positions to the top grades of such Act; and (3) that, if need should develop for increasing such numerical limitations or waiving such standards or procedures, or both, in any case or cases, the matter should be presented promptly to the Congress in a manner consistent with the legislative authority, duty, responsibility, and jurisdiction of the respective Committees on Post Office and Civil Service of the Senate and House of Representatives.