September 27, 1996 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD Ð Extensions of Remarks E1727 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS GPOÐA NETWORK READY FOR THE printed at the GPO's downtown Washington, nologiesÐan intriguing mix of old and new. FUTURE D.C., headquarters. Hand binding and page-end marbling of some With three buildings containing almost 35 books, along with hand-set type for gold acres of floor space, the GPO is a massive op- stamping, contrast sharply with the GPO's HON. STENY H. HOYER eration. It generates $800 million a year and fiber-optic connections to Capitol Hill, CD OF MARYLAND employs 3,830 people. In addition to printing recorders and computers numbering into the IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES for Congress, the GPO also handles most ex- hundreds. ecutive branch printing. Friday, September 27, 1996 The GPO receives Senate proceedings via A HEAVY LOAD fiber-optic transmission from Capitol Hill for Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to Some examples of the GPO's workload are: up to half of the Senate portion of the recognize the work conducted by a very im- The Federal Register, a daily publication Record. Drafts of new legislation are re- portant and often forgotten office which serves that contains about 200 pages and has a press ceived digitally from the House and Senate run of 23,000. Congress each and every day. The Govern- Legislative Counsel's office. About 80 per- The U.S. Budget, which is produced under cent of the Register is transmitted to the ment Printing Office [GPO] has seen vast tight security and updated up until the last GPO by laser beam from the Office of the changes in its 136 years of service to the minute. Federal Register. Congress and was recently acknowledged for Daily business calendars for the House of Representatives and Senate. They are about ``We're a 20th-century agency moving into its ability to reach toward the future in the the 21st,'' comments DiMario. The GPO is much respected trade publication In-Plant 16 pages long at the beginning of a session and more than 200 pages by the end. constantly exploring alternate methods of Graphics. The President's annual economic report, a document dissemination, like CD±ROM and I would like to share this article with my col- 400-page publication. multi-media, depending on the needs of cus- leagues and the public, as I believe it aptly U.S. passports are also produced under tomers. captures the breadth of the work conducted by tight security. ``We're attempting to be the multimedia the GPO and addresses the great resource But with more than 10,000 copies required producer of government publications, and the GPO is to the Government. The Govern- by 9 a.m. every morning that Congress is in we're restructuring the agency along those sessionÐeven when sessions stretch through ment Printing Office and the employees who lines,'' DiMario continues. ``That does not the night to the following dayÐthe Congres- diminish the value of in-plant production of do the work stand ready and prepared to deal sional Record takes top priority among the paper products, although we recognize that with the challenges they face ahead, but more jobs printed by the GPO. in time that need is going to go down.'' importantly, the GPO stands ready to meet its The Record is also available online on the mission of doing the Government's printing in World Wide Web (http://www.access.gpo.gov) THE PUSH TO PRIVATIZE a timely and cost-effective manner. within an hour from the time the final page Though the GPO's high-tech capabilities is sent to the pressroom. So far, users have may be impressive, certain government fac- GPO: NETWORKED, MODERNIZED, AND READY downloaded an average of 2 million docu- tions, caught up in the privatization fervor, FOR THE FUTURE ments per month from 58 databases, which see them as extravagant and are gunning to (As the king of all in-plants, the 136-year-old include the Record, the Register and other close the GPO, calling it wasteful. They be- Government Printing Office is a slimmer, documents. lieve that government printing should be more modern version of its former selfÐ ``We're able to make electronic products contracted out to the private sector, sup- but challenges still remain) available to everyone,'' remarks DiMario. In posedly saving the government millions. (By Bob Neubauer) addition to offering Web, modem and telnet It's not that easy, Sherman cautions. availability of documents, he says, the GPO As darkness wraps itself tightly around the ``We have expressed skepticism that a runs the Federal Depository Library pro- nation's capital, the keyboard operators at similar capability exists in the private sec- gram, making government publications the Government Printing Office (GPO) tor,'' he notes. available through a network of 1,400 libraries glance anxiously from their computer termi- First of all, the GPO already outsources up nals toward the U.S. Capitol dome, visible across the country. Most of the work that goes into the to 80 percent of its printing. What is retained through their windows. could not easily be handled by an outside Atop the dome glows a light. When it's on, Record, acknowledges Robert Schwenk, su- perintendent of the electronic photo- supplier. Producing the Record, for exam- Congress is in session. When Congress is in pleÐwith page counts fluctuating from 10 to session, every detail of its proceedings is composition division, involves generating the electronic database. Tasks such as a record 1,912 pages, and source material ar- being transcribed and delivered to the folks riving in many different forms, including in this room to be input into the Congres- keyboarding, proofing, revising, assembling and electronic composing make up about two handwritten notesÐby 9 a.m. every day, sional Record database. would be a challenge for even the largest When the light goes out, it means the end thirds of the cost of producing the Record. Printing is done on a trio of new Rockwell printer. is in sight, and soon their frenzied web presses that were designed especially for keyboarding will be over for another day. The GPO is staffed to handle those heavy the GPO. They can robotically handle all Sometimes the light stays on for a long, workloads but has enough other work, such bundles and automatically strap them. When long time. That's the nature of life at the as bills or hearings, to keep employees busy the webs aren't being used for the Record, GPO. The 9-to-5 life is not part of the deal. when the Record is smaller. Could a private the Register is keeping them busy. printer keep a sizable staff on hand just to be Long after the dome light goes dark and the There is always plenty of work to be done Record database has been compiled, prepress prepared for the busy times? at the GPO to keep the equipment in action, If the Record were contracted out, the and press workers are wide awake, hustling and priorities change constantly throughout to convert this digital data to plates and get printer would also be responsible for convert- the day. Jobs are occasionally even pulled off ing the data and making it available on the the Record printed and delivered to Congress of presses so that more important ones can by 9 a.m. Web each day. And with so much data com- be done. ing in from Congress via fiber-optic connec- And with the average Record comprising ``The work has to be done to meet, first tions, private sector printers would have to more than 200 pagesÐabout the same and foremost, legislative, congressional pri- equip themselves with the same technologies amount of type as four to six metropolitan orities,'' notes GPO Staff Assistant Andrew and be provided with access to Congress' net- daily newspapersÐthis is a daunting task in- ShermanÐeven if that means wasting part of work. deed. a job and throwing the schedule off. The GPO has been handling congressional GPO employees, DiMario observes, have In fact, with so much sharing of informa- printing since 1860, after experiments with adapted well to this environment and are a tion between the Record and various bills, contract printing failed miserably. Much has hard-working lot. reports and other government databases, pri- changed. ``They really do believe they're doing im- vate contractors would require access to nu- Today, under the leadership of Public portant work to serve the public,'' he says. merous currently secure government net- Printer Michael DiMario, up to 80 percent of ``They're very proud of the products they works. The security of other documents, the GPO's work is procured from the private produce.'' such as the Budget of the United States and sector, leaving only complex, time- and secu- The GPO employs a vast assortment of dig- the President's annual Economic Report, rity-critical work like the Record to be ital and traditional graphic arts tech- would also be put to a test. · This ``bullet'' symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. Matter set in this typeface indicates words inserted or appended, rather than spoken, by a Member of the House on the floor. E1728 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD Ð Extensions of Remarks September 27, 1996 Sherman points out that the GPO has al- [From the Savannah Morning News, Aug. 31, Justice Clarence Thomas is a prime example ready been busy scrutinizing itself and cut- 1996] of their thought policing at its worst.