roundtable: SENATE-HOUSE CONFERENCE REAFFIRMS CONGRESSIONAL INFO ROLE

roundtable: SENATE-HOUSE CONFERENCE REAFFIRMS CONGRESSIONAL INFO ROLE

SENATE-HOUSE CONFERENCE REAFFIRMS CONGRESSIONAL INFO ROLE

Vigdor Schreibman - FINS (fins@access.digex.net)
Fri, 28 Jul 1995 11:58:23 -0400 (EDT) 

Date: Fri, 28 Jul 1995 11:58:23 -0400 (EDT)
From: Vigdor Schreibman - FINS <fins@access.digex.net>
To: pacs-l messages <pacs-l@uhupvm1.uh.edu>,
Subject: SENATE-HOUSE CONFERENCE REAFFIRMS CONGRESSIONAL INFO ROLE
Message-Id: <Pine.SUN.3.91.950728115517.1201E-100000@access1.digex.net>


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FINS SPECIAL REPORT                                             July 28, 1995
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SENATE-HOUSE CONFERENCE REAFFIRMS CONGRESSIONAL INFO ROLE 
Funding of GPO and DLP Supported, but Plan to Save OTA Fails

Washington, DC--A Senate House Conference Committee held their meeting
Thursday evening, July 17, 1995, to settle differences between the two 
Houses of Congress over the Legislative Branch Appropriations for FY 1996 
[H.R. 1854], and strongly reaffirmed the historical information role of 
Congress.  The House receded to the Senate version of the bill, with 
minor changes to the bill approved by the Senate July 20.

Rep. Ron Packard (R-CA), chairman of the House Subcommittee on Legislative
Branch Appropriations, strenuously argued for the need to set out a
deliberate path toward electronic dissemination of government information,
and indicated that the House would go its own way on this issue.  Left in
doubt was how functions and expenditures might be affected as a result of
this divided operational perspective within Congress.  Nevertheless, the
appropriations proposed by the Senate--including $85.5 million for
Congressional Printing and Binding, and $33.3 million for the
Superintendent of Documents Salaries and Expenses--were approved by the
Conferees. 

There were two modification to the Senate proposal, however.  The Joint 
Committee on Printing was retained but their appropriation was decreased to 
$750,000, from the $1.1 million proposed.  In addition, the workforce of 
the Government Printing Office will be reduced to 3,800 workyears by the 
end of fiscal year 1996, down 100 workyears from the Senate proposal.

During the conference proposals by Rep. Vic Fazio (D-CA), to save the
Office of Technology Assessment failed by a tie vote of House members, as
did proposals for any major restoration of the Botanical Gardens, at this
time, which were strongly supported both by chairman Packard, and by Rep.
Bob Livingston (R-LA), chairman of the full House Committee on
Appropriation. 

At the conclusion of the conference Sen. Connie Mack, chairman of the
Senate Subcommittee on Legislative Branch Appropriations made a point, to
express his strong support for librarians, and the depository library
program, during discussions with the Washington Office representative for
the American Library Association, Anne Heanue. 

Vigdor Schreibman - FINS <fins@access.digex.net>

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