Senators’ Official Personnel and Office Expense Account (SOPOEA): History and Usage

Summary

The Senators’ Official Personnel and Office Expense Account (SOPOEA) is available to assist Senators in their official duties. The allowance is provided on a fiscal year basis (i.e., October 1-September 30). Funding is provided in the annual legislative branch appropriations bills.

Senators have a high degree of flexibility to use the SOPOEA to operate their offices in a way that supports their congressional duties and responsibilities, and individual office spending may be as varied as the states from which the Senators are elected.

This appropriations account has decreased in recent years, from a high of $422.0 million in FY2010 to $390.0 million in FY2014, a decrease of 7.6%. The appropriation remained at the FY2014 level in the FY2015 and FY2016 appropriations acts.

The SOPOEA for each Senator is calculated based on three variables—the administrative and clerical assistance allowance, the legislative assistance allowance, and the official office expense allowance. The formula results in a single, consolidated allowance for each Senator that can be used to pay for any type of approved official expense, subject to any regulations or limitations established by statute, Senate rules, the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, and the Senate Ethics Committee.

A preliminary list of SOPOEA levels shows a range in FY2016 of $3,008,288 to $4,760,211, depending on the state. The average allowance is $3,263,940.

Pursuant to 2 U.S.C. §4108, Senate expenses are reported online biennially on a fiscal year basis in the Report of the Secretary of the Senate.

This report provides a history of the SOPOEA and overview of recent developments, including funding levels. It also analyzes actual SOPOEA spending patterns in selected years (fiscal years 2007, 2008, 2011, and 2012).

For a similar analysis of Member office budgets in the House of Representatives, see CRS Report R40962, Members’ Representational Allowance: History and Usage, by Ida A. Brudnick.