An Army of Experts Storms Capitol Hill

They have been dubbed "the invisible Government" or "the hidden power elite" or "the shadow lawmakers."

Yet, although they are nameless and faceless figures to the public, the more than 13,000 people who staff the committees and offices of members of Congress are neither malign nor inconspicuous. Many of them can be seen standing behind the rail at the rear of the House, and slipping in formation to Senators on the floor of the other chamber.

They often seem to dominate congressional hearings as they lean forward to supply legislators with shrewd questions that befuddle a committee opponent, or dazzling answers that sew up an argument. Their rising influence and expertise are among the reasons for the resurgent role of the U.S. Congress.

When the first streamlining of the confused and outdated federal criminal code reaches the Senate for action this week, public credit will go to its major supporters: the late Senator John McClellan, Senator Edward Kennedy and Attorney General Griffin Bell. Still, the man most responsible for the recodification is Kenneth Feinberg, a former Assistant U.S. Attorney in New York who spent ten months working full time on the highly complex bill as chief counsel of a judiciary subcommittee headed by Kennedy. Feinberg, 31, labored with equally dutiful McClellan aides to bridge the gulf between liberals and conservatives on ways, for example, to get federal judges to sentence criminals convicted of comparable offenses to roughly equal prison terms. Similarly John Kramer, 40, special counsel of the House Agriculture Committee and a law professor at Georgetown University, can claim credit for passage of the Food Stamp Act of 1977. Unlike most aides, he speaks openly of his influence, saying: "It came through 99% the way I wanted it to."

Other staff members are more reticent because their bosses properly insist on the public applause. Yet it was largely because of the prodding of Richard Perle, 36, an aide for eight years to Senator Henry (Scoop) Jackson, that the Senate has adopted a key "qualification" to the 1972 U.S.-So-viet SALT agreement, demanding that there be strategic arms parity in any future pact. Jackson has staked out defense matters as a main interest, and Perle's hawkish skepticism about arms control and his mastery of intricate weaponry arguments have given him as much influence as many Administration officials in the arms infighting.

Most staff members are under 40, well educated, well paid (many are at the $40,000 level), and reflect the political leanings of their employers. Their power has grown out of the desire of Congress to compete with the previously overwhelming expertise of the vast bureaucracy of the Executive Branch. Also, legislative issues have grown more complex, and Congress has taken its watchdog function over the Administration more seriously. No Congressman can hope to absorb by himself most of the increasingly technical information demanded by both the expanded work of Congress and a more insistent and sophisticated public.

To meet these growing needs, the Senate now authorizes each member to hire an aide to work full time on every committee assignment the Senator holds. In the House, the majority and minority staffs of each committee are supposed to serve the interests of all committee members from their party. Fortunately, Congress recently raised the amount of money Senators and Representatives can spend on personal office staffs, with the result that more bright and able aides have been hired. In 1972 there were 2,426 Senate aides and 913 Senate committee staffers; also 5,280 House aides and 783 House committee staffers--a grand total of 9,402. By 1976, according to Susan Hammond and Harrison Fox Jr., authors of a new book on congressional staffs, that total had jumped to 13,272. It is still growing.

Some legislators and scholars are alarmed. Complains South Carolina Senator Fritz Rollings: "There are many Senators who feel that all they are doing is running around and responding to the staff. My staff fighting your staff, your staff competing with mine. Everybody is working for the staff, staff, staff, driving you nutty." Contends Norman Ornstein, political scientist at Catholic University: "The staffs have vastly increased the work load. The more staff, the more meetings, the more hearings." Admits Indiana Congressman Dan Quayle: "It's very uncomfortable to be so dependent on staff, but I have to be. Seventy-five percent of the votes we cast are on issues we don't have a great interest in--so we'll talk to other members or to staff."

No political pro has any trouble keeping his staff advisers in line with his own wishes. The most common relationship is symbiotic: the staffer knows the inclinations and needs of his boss and gets ahead by following those tendencies and filling the information gaps. One strong Senator, New York Republican Jacob Javits, now has a personal staff of 50. In addition, he has increased his own considerable influence by relying on such able committee aides as Don Zimmerman, minority counsel to the Senate Human Resources Committee. Javits, the ranking minority member on the committee, has used Zimmerman to develop far more clout, especially on labor matters, than the committee chairman, Democratic Senator Harrison Williams of New Jersey.

Zimmerman, 37, a George Washington University law graduate and top authority on labor laws, declares that the first rule of all staff work is: "Don't get too far out in front of your Senator."

Some aides have moved out front in political or administrative careers of their own. About 18 former aides are now Congressmen and four are Senators. Among other ex-aides are A. Daniel O'Neal, who is chairman of tine Interstate Commerce Commission; Michael Pertschuk, head of the Federal Trade Commission; and Charles Ferris, the new chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. More typical is Kenneth McLean, 43, staff director of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. "I'd be a terrible politician," admits McLean. "To be a politician you have to go out and shake a lot of hands. It's a lot more fun to be a staffer."

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