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Wednesday, November 27, 2013

GPO , Issues and Challenges: How Will GPO Transition to the Future?


R. Eric Petersen
Specialist in American National Government

Chairman Gingrey, Ranking Member Lofgren, and Members of the subcommittee: Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today.

You have asked me to present testimony to the subcommittee on the Government Printing Office (GPO). In its 150 years, the agency’s mission has evolved from pursuing a craft chiefly dedicated to the mass production of books, government forms, flyers, and other printed materials to its current posture as “the Federal Government’s primary centralized resource for producing, procuring, cataloging, indexing, authenticating, disseminating, and preserving the official information products of the U.S. Government in digital and tangible forms.”
 

GPO’s evolution reflects similar transformations in the printing, publishing, and information management components of the private sector. In the past four decades, those industries have addressed the emergence of electronic publishing and distribution. The advent of digital information has expanded the means of information creation, protection, and delivery beyond mechanical compilation and production of documents that exist only on paper. Where mass-produced printed products were the focus in the 19
th and 20th Centuries, today GPO produces passports, identification documents for citizens enrolled in various government benefit programs, immigration documents, and secure credentials for the federal workforce. Individual copies are unique, products are customizable, and include advanced anti-counterfeiting features. Documents of general interest and mass distribution have changed as well – according to GPO, approximately 97% of all U.S. Government documents are “born digital,” published electronically and available through the Internet, and will never be printed by the federal government. The legacy of the printing program continues as well, with paper copies of the Congressional Record, Federal Register, and other government publications available in dwindling numbers, but accessible without charge in electronic form to Internet users through GPO’s Federal Digital System (FDsys).

Date of Report: May 11, 2011
Number of Pages: 8
Order Number: T-051111
Price: $19.95


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Tuesday, November 26, 2013

“Library of Congress: Ensuring Continuity and Efficiency During Leadership Transitions”


Mary B. Mazanec
Director Congressional Research Service

 
Mr. Chairman, Representative Lofgren, and Members of the Subcommittee:

Thank you for this opportunity to appear before you today to discuss the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress. I am honored to have been appointed CRS Director by Dr. Billington last December after having joined CRS in August 2010 as Deputy Director. The mandate that Congress gave to CRS is to provide the Congress, throughout the legislative process, comprehensive and reliable legislative research, analysis, and information services that are timely, objective, non-partisan, authoritative and confidential, thereby contributing to an informed national legislature. Every action I take as Director is designed to ensure that CRS not only fulfills that mandate to serve the Congress, but continues to improve upon that service. I want to further a CRS that is responsive at every stage of the legislative process – from the inception of the significant policy idea, to committee markup, to informing the floor debate, and coming to final resolution in conference.

My transition to Director of CRS was seamless due in significant part to the excellent, dedicated, and talented staff working at all levels of the Service. CRS staff are truly dedicated to serving Congress and view themselves as extensions of congressional staff, a pooled resource available to all Members and committees.

My vision for CRS is the vision enunciated at the time of passage of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970. I intend to ensure that CRS remains Congress’ primary source for the analysis and information it needs to perform its legislative functions and that we continue to explore new and innovative ways to best serve the committees of Congress, Members and their staffs.


Date of Report: April 18, 2012
Number of Pages: 5
Order Number: T-041812
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Monday, November 25, 2013

Senate Rule XIV Procedures for Placing Measures Directly on the Senate Calendar


Michael L. Koempel
Senior Specialist in American National Government

Christina Wu
Research Associate

When a Senator introduces a bill or joint resolution, or a House-passed bill or joint resolution is received in the Senate from the House, the measure is often referred to committee, pursuant to provisions of Senate Rules XIV, XVII, and XXV. The Senate may, however, use provisions of Senate Rule XIV to bypass potential referral of a bill or joint resolution to a Senate committee, and have the measure placed directly on the Senate Calendar of Business.

Although placing a bill or joint resolution directly on the calendar does not guarantee that the full Senate will ever consider it, the measure is available for floor consideration and certain procedural steps, such as committee reporting or discharging a committee from a bill’s consideration, and procedural requirements, such as the two-day availability of a committee report, may be obviated.

Senate rules contain procedures for processing concurrent and simple resolutions, which are not covered in this report. A Senator may also offer a germane, relevant, or nongermane amendment to a measure pending on the Senate floor, in addition to or instead of introducing a bill or joint resolution. Amendments are also not covered in this report.

This report will not be updated in the 113
th Congress unless Senate procedures change. For a fuller examination of using the Rule XIV procedure and other ways by which the Senate may bypass committees, see CRS Report RS22299, Bypassing Senate Committees: Rule XIV and Unanimous Consent, by Michael L. Koempel and Christina Wu.

Date of Report: November 6, 2013
Number of Pages: 6
Order Number: RS22309
Price: $19.95


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