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1. Congressional Budget Office (CBO); The CBO counterbalances the president’s elaborate budget organization, the Office of Management and Budget.
2. Government Accountability Office (GAO); This agency is the nation’s watchdog over how the funds Congress appropriates are spent.
3. Government Printing Office (GPO);  it now makes the Congressional Record, House and Senate bills, committee hearings, reports, and other publications available online as well as through web-based apps. It also promotes transparency in government by providing these publications over the Internet at no charge.

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- The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world, containing more than 100 million books, journals, music pieces, films, photographs, and maps.
- The Library of Congress has a Congressional Research Service with hundreds of employees.
- Every year, the CRS answers thousands of requests for information from lawmakers, congressional staff, and committees.

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- Congress who are assigned to that committee also designate their own staff to work specifically on those issues and will loan other staff when needed. Committee staffers draft bills, study issues, collect information, plan committee hearings, write memos, prepare committee reports, and negotiate with other staff on the pending legislation. - They are largely responsible for the work involved in making laws but are much fewer in number than personal staff.

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- A large part of a congressional staff consists of caseworker; a term borrowed from the social services field, because they handle the many requests for help from a member’s constituents.

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- Almost every member of Congress employs a press secretary or communications director.  - Frequently former journalists themselves, press secretaries know how the media works and how to attract attention.
- Press secretaries draft press releases, schedule press conferences, and answer questions from the media.
-  Press secretaries also assist senators and representatives with their websites, videos, blogs, tweets, and other electronic communication. These help shape the lawmaker’s public image, publicize their policy positions, and help citizens follow their legislative activities.

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1. Administrative assistant; called an AA, serves as the chief of staff. The AA runs the lawmaker’s office, supervises the lawmaker’s schedule, and gives advice on political matters.
2. Legislative directors; The LD typically establishes the legislative agenda and briefs the lawmaker on all legislative matters. Also supervises and serves as a resource person for the more junior legislative staff members.
- Legislative Assistants; Make certain that the lawmaker is well informed about the many bills with which she or he must deal. An LA does research, drafts bills, studies bills that are currently in Congress, and writes speeches and articles for the lawmaker.

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- Congressional staffs grew more as lawmaking became more complex in the 1970s. Lawmakers could not be experts on all the issues that came before their committees or that they needed to vote on in Congress.
- Congressional staff are divided into two basic types: personal staff and committee staff.
-Personal staff members work directly for individual senators and representatives.
- Committee staff members work for the many House and Senate committees.

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- The work of Congress is so extensive and complex that lawmakers have many resources to meet their obligations, including supporting agencies like the Library of Congress.
- Members rely heavily on staff in their committee work. Staff members research issues and topics on the committees’ agenda and schedule witnesses for hearings.

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- Has been criticized for giving a few members of Congress too much power. As a result, changes were made so that chairs are elected through a secret ballot. There have been notable exceptions, but for the most part, members tend to cast their ballots for the longest-serving members to chair committees.

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- First, membership on some committees can increase a lawmaker’s chances for reelection because it puts a congressperson in position to act on bills that are important to their constituents.
- Second, membership on some committees can mean the lawmaker will be able to influence national policies.
- Third, some committees allow a member to influence many other members because they affect matters that are important to everyone in Congress.

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- Congress has four basic kinds of committees.
1. standing committees; They stand, or continue, from one legislative session to the next.
2. select committees; Each subcommittee specializes in a subcategory of its standing committee’s responsibility. Like committees, they usually continue from one legislative session to the next, although the majority party can make changes.
3. joint committees; Can be temporary or permanent. Both parties are represented on them, just like other committees. These committees usually act as a kind of study group that reports back to the House and Senate on a topic or bill.
4. conference committees; is a temporary committee that is set up when the House and Senate have passed different versions of a bill. Its members, called conferees, usually come from the House and Senate standing committees that handled the bill.

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-  “Line sitting” has developed into a business to meet the demand for the limited number of seats in a congressional committee room.
- Although public attention usually focuses on the debates that take place in the Senate and House chambers, the real work of crafting bills takes place in the committee rooms.
- The members of Congress hear testimony from experts on different sides of an issue, propose amendments, and vote on whether to send the bill to the full House or Senate.
- The committee system serves several important purposes. First, it allows members of Congress to divide their work among many smaller groups.
- Second, from the huge number of bills that are introduced in Congress, committees select those few that are to receive further consideration.
- Third, by holding public hearings and investigations, committees help the public learn about key problems and issues facing the nation.