Following is a letter from Michael F. DiMario, Public Printer, to Rep. Charles W. Taylor, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Legislative Branch Appropriations, House Appropriations Committee, concerning the impact of the proposed funding cuts on GPO and the Federal Depository Library Program.
Gil Baldwin
May 11, 2000
The Honorable Charles W. Taylor
Dear Mr. Chairman:
I am writing to express my profound concern and dismay with the
appropriations cuts recommended by the Subcommittee on Legislative
Appropriations last week and agreed to by the House Appropriations
Committee on Tuesday, May 9. The cuts will mean the reduction of 435
skilled GPO personnel and the elimination of public access to a
significant body of Government information, and could jeopardize GPO's
ability to support Congress' printing and information product needs.
Salaries and Expenses of the Superintendent of Documents. If enacted, the
cut in this appropriation will have a disastrous impact on public access
to Federal Government information by literally dismantling the Federal
Depository Library Program (FDLP), the Government's primary and
longest-serving information dissemination activity. Every one of the
1,337 depository libraries nationwide will feel the following impacts, as
will the estimated
9.5 million people who use these libraries every year:
* The 60 percent reduction in this appropriation will force our library
program staff to be cut by nearly two-thirds, affecting 85 skilled
information and library specialists and distribution personnel. Many of
these employees are recognized throughout the library and information
community nationwide for their expertise in the Government information
field. The loss of their skills and capabilities from the public access
arena will be incalculable.
* Altogether, public access to nearly 40,000 titles, or the majority of
all titles made available through the program, will be affected.
Approximately 25,000 of these titles are available in tangible format
only, as determined by their issuing agencies, not the GPO. By requiring
all information dissemination to be in online format only, the funding cut
will terminate public access to these titles, abruptly ending public
access to numerous critically important Government information products,
including most congressional hearings. Public access via depository
libraries to Census 2000 data that will be released in the near future on
CD-ROM will also be eliminated.
* Another 15,000 titles are available in both online and tangible formats,
such as the U.S. Code and Supreme Court reports. While electronic access
to these titles may continue, the public will not be able to use the
printed products, which in many cases are the official, authentic versions
of these documents. In an age when public access to these electronic
documents is susceptible to a broad range of problems-from assurance of
permanent availability to vulnerability to computer viruses-continued
access in tangible formats remains absolutely essential. And it can be
done for relatively little cost: the FDLP prints, catalogs, ships, and
provides support services for all tangible formats for about $1.57 per
copy, an incredibly efficient performance.
* The funding cut will undermine public access to electronic Government
information products. It will terminate virtually all depository library
support services, including program administration, designations, product
acquisition, classification, inspections, training, and consultative
services. One of these services involves providing necessary locator
services to online Government information products. Another involves
working with agencies to ensure that new information products are usable
by the public. Yet another involves establishing public/private
partnerships to ensure the permanent availability of online Government
information products. The loss of these services will be devastating to
electronic public access both today and for the future.
The cut to the Salaries and Expenses Appropriation will have other impacts
as well:
* It will eliminate GPO's By-Law Distribution Program, under which certain
publications specified by public law are distributed at the request of
Members of Congress and Federal agencies. Agencies that receive statutory
copies of publications under this program include the Library of Congress
and the National Archives.
* It will virtually eliminate the International Exchange Program. Under
international treaty, this program pays for the distribution of U.S.
Government publications to 71 foreign governments that agree, as indicated
by the Library of Congress, to send to the Library similar
publications of their governments. Without providing copies of
publications for international exchange, the Library is not likely to
receive copies of publications from foreign governments.
Mr. Chairman, at a cost of approximately $30 million annually-about 1
percent of the legislative branch budget, which is itself only a small
fraction of the overall U.S. budget-the FDLP and associated programs
provide the Nation's citizens with access to
the most comprehensive range of Government information available, all
under the direct control of the public's elected representatives in
Congress. It is a well-managed program: only two years ago, the program
was characterized as "a valuable public service" in the
congressionally-directed management audit of GPO conducted by
Booz-Allen & Hamilton, Inc. Most importantly, the FDLP is recognized
both nationally and internationally as a model of how best to keep the
public informed.
The funding reduction approved by the House Appropriations Committee,
however, will destroy this program and along with it the Government's
longstanding partnership with the American library community to provide
the public with library-based access to Government information. I
implore you to reconsider this decision and to restore our requested
funding for this essential program and its associated functions.
Transfer of Superintendent of Documents Operations. The Committee has
directed a study of the transfer of Superintendent of Documents operations
to the Library of Congress. Part of this requirement is to transfer an
electronic FDLP to the Library of Congress. However, we already transfer
databases to the Library for use on Library systems, such as Thomas, so
the need for the physical reorganization of these functions is not clear.
Moreover, GPO Access is not created by the FDLP. The congressional and
agency databases created for GPO Access-as well as transfer to Thomas-are
the by-product of GPO's electronic printing systems. These are integral
processes that cannot be transferred without transferring associated
printing functions.
Other Superintendent of Documents programs that would be transferred would
be the sales and agency distribution programs, under which GPO distributes
publications, on a reimbursable basis, to recipients designated by Federal
agencies. It is true that such a transfer was passed by the House in
1993, but only after it had been amended to transfer the right to bargain
for wages along with the Superintendent of Documents' employees. However,
when such a transfer was studied by the Library in 1994 and again in 1995,
the Library expressed reservations due to its lack of experience in
operating large-scale publications distribution programs. Also, the
Library had reservations about separating the publications distribution
function from GPO's production/procurement function, under which
publications are obtained for sales and other distribution programs on a
cost-effective basis with minimal administrative burden and cost. The
removal of the distribution function from GPO could significantly increase
the cost of making Government publications available to the public.
Congressional Printing and Binding Appropriation. This appropriation will
be reduced by $7.8 million, or 11 percent, from the current year level as
the result of a directive not to print any products not associated with
the direct legislative business of Congress. The Committee has
specifically recommended the elimination of the Congressional Record Index
(which will result in the abolishment of the Congressional Record Index
office, whose personnel are appointed by the Joint Committee on Printing).
Also eliminated will be the 2000 edition of the U.S. Code and other
miscellaneous congressional publications such as the Congressional
Directory, the congressional Serial Sets, memorial addresses, and
nominations, as well as Our Flag and engineering and agricultural
reports submitted by Federal agencies to Congress, which are printed as
numbered documents. In addition, funding is cut for Senate distribution
of copies of the Congressional Record to public agencies
and institutions, blank paper for the Senate, and GPO details to Congress.
The elimination of funding for these and other publications "not
absolutely essential to the day-to-day operations and legislative
activities of the House and Senate" calls into question the availability
of this appropriation for related products, such as printing for the
January 2001 inauguration of the President; printing for other
miscellaneous publications, including the Pictorial Guide, Economic
Indicators, House and Senate telephone directories, and treaties; and
printing for other numbered documents such as The Capitol Magazine, the
quarterly Statements of Disbursements of the House and the semiannual
Report of the Secretary of the Senate, as well as printing performed under
resolutions (including the pocket Constitution, How Our Laws Are Made, and
Our American Government).
When combined with the elimination of printing for depository libraries
and the absence of funding to pay the 2001 COLA for GPO's crafts
employees, as provided in wage contracts approved by the Joint Committee
on Printing, these workload reductions will force the reduction of 350
production personnel, more than a quarter of our production staff, whose
value to Congress-in providing essential congressional printing services
and making electronic information available via GPO Access-has been
praised time and again by the Members and leadership of both the House and
the Senate. Not only are their printing crafts services essential to
Congress, but these same personnel make Government information products
available online via GPO Access, which is made available for the use of
other online services, such as the Library of Congress' Thomas. The
staffing cut that this appropriation will require could very conceivably
impact our electronic information services, especially if a RIF-which is
enormously disruptive to the workforce-is required to meet workforce
reduction goals. Accordingly, I urge you to reconsider this funding cut
and restore this appropriation to our requested levels.
Transfer of Congressional Printing Funding to House and Senate. The
Committee recommends a study of the transfer of the Congressional Printing
and Binding Appropriation to the Clerk of the House and the Secretary of
the Senate in 2003. However, it is not clear how such a transfer would be
effected. For the past three years, the amount of this appropriation used
by the House has averaged 38 percent. The amount used by the Senate has
averaged 26 percent, while joint and other items, such as joint
committees, the Congressional Record index, GPO's Congressional Printing
Management Division, numbered documents authorized by both chambers (Our
Flag, the pocket Constitution, etc.) have averaged 36 percent. It is not
clear how these items would be divided between the two Houses. Similarly,
it is not clear whether GPO would remain the Congress' source of printing
and electronic information product services under this proposal, or to
what degree Congress itself will experience increased costs and
administrative burdens from the assumption of these new funds. Years ago,
Congress created GPO's Congressional Printing and Binding Appropriation
to address all of these issues, and I strongly recommend that you
reconsider this potentially unwieldy and costly transfer proposal.
GPO Revolving Fund. The Committee has not fulfilled GPO's request for $6
million for air conditioning improvements. Without an appropriation for
this expensive project, the revolving fund will have to be used. As a
result, the costs of the project will have to be recovered through
printing rates charged to GPO's customers, including Congress. With less
revenue coming in as a result of the appropriations reductions, the impact
of this project on remaining revenues will be more significant.
Mr. Chairman, if these funding recommendations are enacted, they will
significantly impair our ability to carry out our statutory mission, and
they will profoundly impact the public's access to Government information.
I urge you, in the strongest possible terms, to reconsider them.
cc: The Honorable Ed Pastor
Director
Library Programs Service
Mail Stop SL
U.S. Government Printing Office
Washington, DC 20401
202.512.1002 / fax 202.512.1432
email
--------------------------------------------
Chairman
Subcommittee on Legislative Appropriations
Committee on Appropriations
House of Representatives
Room H-147, The Capitol
Washington, DC 20515
Sincerely,
MICHAEL F. DiMARIO
Public Printer
Ranking Member
House Subcommittee on Legislative Appropriations
The Honorable Zach Wamp
Member
House Subcommittee on Legislative Appropriations
The Honorable Jerry Lewis
Member
House Subcommittee on Legislative Appropriations
The Honorable Kay Granger
Member
House Subcommittee on Legislative Appropriations
The Honorable John E. Peterson
Member
House Subcommittee on Legislative Appropriations
The Honorable John P. Murtha
Member
House Subcommittee on Legislative Appropriations
The Honorable Steny H. Hoyer
Member
House Subcommittee on Legislative Appropriations
The Honorable C.W. Bill Young
Chairman
House Appropriations Committee
The Honorable David Obey
Ranking Member
House Appropriations Committee
The Honorable Robert F. Bennett
Chairman
Senate Subcommittee on Legislative Branch Appropriations
The Honorable Dianne Feinstein
Ranking Member
Senate Subcommittee on Legislative Branch Appropriations
The Honorable Ted Stevens
Chairman
Senate Appropriations Committee
The Honorable Robert C. Byrd
Ranking Member
Senate Appropriations Committee
The Honorable Ed Pastor
House of Representatives
Room 2465, Rayburn Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
The Honorable Zach Wamp
House of Representatives
Room 423, Cannon Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
The Honorable Jerry Lewis
House of Representatives
Room 2112, Rayburn Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
The Honorable Kay Granger
House of Representatives
Room 435, Cannon Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
The Honorable John E. Peterson
House of Representatives
Room 307, Cannon Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
The Honorable John P. Murtha
House of Representatives
Room 2423, Rayburn Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
The Honorable Steny H. Hoyer
House of Representatives
Room 1216, Longworth Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
The Honorable C.W. Bill Young
Chairman
House Appropriations Committee
Room H-218, The Capitol
Washington, DC 20515
The Honorable David Obey
Ranking Member
House Appropriations Committee
Room 1016, Longworth Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
The Honorable Robert F. Bennett
Chairman
Senate Subcommittee on Legislative Branch Appropriations
Room S-125, The Capitol
Washington, DC 20510
The Honorable Dianne Feinstein
Ranking Member
Senate Subcommittee on Legislative Branch Appropriations
Room S-206, The Capitol
Washington, DC 20510
The Honorable Ted Stevens
Chairman
Senate Appropriations Committee
Room S-128, The Capitol
Washington, DC 20510
The Honorable Robert C. Byrd
Ranking Member
Senate Appropriations Committee
Room S-206, The Capitol
Washington, DC 20510
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