CONTENTS Page Michael F. DiMario, Public Printer, Government Printing Office Wayne Kelley, Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Of- Thomas C. Evans, Deputy Director, Electronic Information Dissemination (III) GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE OVERSIGHT THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 1997 U.S. SENATE, JOINT COMMITTEE ON PRINTING, The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:14 p.m., in room S128, the Capitol, Hon. John Warner (chairman of the committee) presiding. Present: Senators Warner, Cochran, McConnell, Ford, Inouye; Representatives Thomas (Vice Chairman), Ney, Granger, and Gejd enson. Chairman WARNER. We will now move to hearing from the distinguished panel. The oversight hearing of the Joint Committee on Printing is called to order. Thank you very much. Today the committee will hear testimony on the state of the Government Printing Office from the Public Printer of the United States, the Honorable Michael DiMario. Before Mr. DiMario's statement, however, we will insert in the record the prepared statement of Mr. Hoyer. [The prepared statement of Mr. Hoyer follows:] Mr. Chairman, we meet today to review the progress of the Government Printing Office [GPO] in meeting the needs of a changing technology in the fields of printing and electronic dissemination of information for the American public. I believe it is extremely important to give the GPO credit for the progress it has made in the past few years, but it is equally important for us to fairly recognize that the GPO has not been the creator of many of the problems that it has had to face during that same period. The history of the GPO has been replete with examples of the Congress requiring this agency to do work, while at the same time being unwilling to pay for those requirements. We have tied the agency's hands by prohibiting them from raising prices, while the cost of paper and other materials, including labor, continued to rise. I could fill in many more examples, ending with the 1997 legislative appropriations bill that directed the GPO to conduct a $600,000 study without providing the funding to do the study. It's no wonder that the financial reports of the GPO are printed in red ink. Mr. Chairman, the executive agencies of our Government are, in wholesale fashion, ignoring their legal obligations under Title 44 of the USC, to use the GPO as their printer, and Congress has taken precious few actions to bring these agencies into compliance. You have my appreciation, Mr. Chairman, for your attention to this matter and for actions of the JCP staff in making a long-overdue effort to require compliance by executive agencies-the GSA, the DOD, HHS, the Department of Commerce, and others. As long as Title 44 is applicable law, it should be followed. Speaking of Title 44, Mr. Chairman, I note that your Committee on Rules is preparing for hearings on Title 44 revisions, perhaps as early as next month. We have been assured that these changes will be both bipartisan and bicameral in nature, and that is welcomed news. (1) That is exactly what any meaningful reform of Title 44 must have in order to pass the Congress and be signed by the President, as well as be accepted by the many different groups and organizations that are affected each day by Title 44. I look forward to working with you in shaping these reforms. Throughout our examination of Title 44, we should always keep in mind the GPO and its successes. It has been a guardian of the American public's right to have access to the information produced and published by its Government. The GPO stands as an integral part of the nation's Depository Library Program. Mr. DiMario, in his written testimony, correctly describes the Depository Library Program as a nationwide program to provide the written and electronic informational products of Government free-of-charge to the public. The Depository Library Program is directly threatened by the growing number of Government publications that are being printed by executive agencies; and, through their failure to follow the requirements of Title 44, many of these publications are not being sent to the depository libraries across the country. Mr. Chairman, these documents have even been given a special name "fugitive documents," and Mr. DiMario reports in his written testimony that as many as 55,000 such documents have been lost-simply because they are not being printed at the GPO. The Depository Library Program is strongest when there is one centralized location for the collection of items for distribution to the depository libraries of the nation. The failure of the executive agencies to follow the law-failing to use the GPO as their sole printing source and by allowing fugitive documents to come into existence provides abundant evidence that the GPO is our best hope to maintain this valued program. I congratulate Mr. DiMario on his successful efforts to keep the GPO operating efficiently, even in light of the many obstacles that have been passed to it-not only by the executive agencies but by Congress itself-and it is my hope that through the efforts of the JCP these obstacles may be removed soon. Finally, Mr. Chairman, let me address the role of the Joint Committee on Printing for the next few fiscal years. Your statement on the floor of the Senate on February 27, 1997, relative to your testimony before the House Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee, stated, "The purpose of that testimony was to provide justification for the Joint Committee's fiscal year 1998 appropriations request, and to outline the priorities of the Joint Committee in the current and future fiscal years." The direction you have given the JCP has shown the need for a strong Joint Committee on Printing in future years. It has a mission not only of oversight of the Government Printing Office but of seeking compliance with Title 44 by executive agencies. The JCP's role in aiding the advanced electronic dissemination of information has also been shown, and I would hope we have put behind us the idea of splitting up the Joint Committee between the House and Senate-in essence creating two separate areas of expertise and expense, rather than the one we have now. That doesn't seem to make good sense to me, Mr. Chairman. I think your words on the floor of the Senate indicate that you have an interest in seeing the JCP continue to perform meaningful responsibilities in oversight of the Government Printing Office during future years and in the associated problems that threaten a vibrant GPO. Thank you. Chairman WARNER. Now, Mr. DiMario, you may proceed. Your entire statement will be admitted to the record, and we suggest you highlight those portions that need the particular attention of the group. Thank you very much. And would you introduce your distinguished colleagues here? STATEMENT OF MICHAEL F. DiMARIO, PUBLIC PRINTER, U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, ACCOMPANIED BY WAYNE P. KELLEY, SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS, AND ACTING DEPUTY PUBLIC PRINTER, AND THOMAS C. EVANS, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, ELECTRONIC INFORMATION DISSEMINATION SERVICES Mr. DIMARIO. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. With me on my right is Mr. Wayne Kelley, who is the Superintendent of Documents; he is also the Acting Deputy Public Printer. To my left is Thomas C. Evans, who is in our Documents Services in EIDS, Electronic Information Dissemination Services, and he is the Deputy Director of that service under Mr. Kelley. Mr. Chairman, we are pleased to be here this afternoon to assist you in your oversight of the Government Printing Office. As you indicated, I have submitted a prepared statement for the record for the three of us which responds to the issues raised in your letter of invitation. I will very briefly summarize our statement, and then Mr. Kelley and Mr. Evans each have brief remarks. Mr. Chairman, you have called this hearing at an opportune moment in the history of Title 44 of the U.S. Code, the statutes that govern GPO. New and emerging information technologies, changing information dissemination practices, and the growing demand by the public for enhanced and expanded access to taxpayer-funded Government information are impacting the ways that GPO services the_Government and the public. With the guidance and direction of Congress, GPO-as one of the Federal Government's principal assets dedicated to the task of keeping America informed-is meeting these challenges. As you recently stated in the Congressional Record, Mr. Chairman, an abiding commitment to public access to Government information is deeply rooted in our system of Government. I would submit that GPO is one of the most visible demonstrations of that commitment. For more than a century, our mission has been to fulfill the needs of the Federal Government for information products and distribute those products to the public. Through much of that time, our mission was accomplished through the production and procurement of traditional printing technologies. However, a generation ago, we began migrating our processes to electronic technologies, well in advance of most of the printing industry, and in 1993 Congress amended Title 44 with the GPO Electronic Information Access Enhancement Act. This landmark legislation requires us to disseminate Government information products online and is the basis of GPO Access, our award-winning Internet information service. At this point in time, between 2.5 million and 3 million documents are retrieved by the public from this service every month. Today, GPO is equipped with state-of-the-art technology and a superbly trained workforce dedicated to producing, procuring, and disseminating Government information products in a wide range of formats. In GPO, the Government has a unique and unequaled asset that combines a comprehensive range of conventional production and electronic processing services, procurement facilitation, and multi-format dissemination capabilities to support the information life cycle needs of Congress, Federal agencies, and the public. |