Printing of Business or Calling Cards for Senators and Their Staff Members

GAO was asked for a summary of its views on the printing of business or calling cards for Senators and their staff members. In response, GAO stated that decisions on the question of business cards, all rendered to executive departments and agencies, have consistently stated that business or calling cards are not necessary to the conduct of government business and are, therefore, a personal expense to be borne by the individual employee. But, under Senate Resolution 294, a discretionary account was created in 1977 to allow each Senator the flexibility to try new office methods and equipment. The Committee on Rules and Administration was delegated the full responsibility to determine what constitutes official expenses with respect to the contingent fund from which the Senator's discretionary office account is derived. However, once a type of expense is determined to be official, the individual Senator may determine for himself the necessity for and how much of his 10-percent allowance to spend on items in that category. At this time, Senate Resolution 294 has not yet been reenacted after being vitiated and returned for a minor technical amendment. Thus, the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration is technically free to decide that business cards are not official expenses. However, if the Committee does not make that determination or if the Senate Resolution is reenacted in substantially the same form as it was priorly, the Senator's discretionary funds may be used to purchase business cards.