Mr. MOLLOY. It is well noted, and I am aware of that problem. We have attempted to address ourselves to it. The answer which is not acceptable is 19,000 appointments arranged by phone. We will address ourselves to it. We have in the past and will again; namely, by bringing in each person. I will convey that message in the strongest possible tones. Not to mitigate it, this has happened before, and it is a stressful area. But that is not an excuse at all. Again, common basic courtesies dictate what we must do around here, and it has come to my attention from other Members. Mr. LEWIS. We have an unemployment problem and I am sure if those people are unhappy working we could replace them. Mr. MOLLOY. The professional end is very good. I hope to improve the courtesy end of the thing. Mr. FAZIO. I guess we all know that artists can be temperamental. SAVINGS RESULTING FROM MERGE CREATING BIPARTISAN I wonder, Mr. Molloy, if the bipartisan organization that we have developed over there has had a positive or negative result. Mr. MOLLOY. That has worked out perfect. We have meshed the old Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee photographers with the Republican. We anticipated a problem with it, but we did it to save money, and we saved a substantial amount. And that has not been a problem. Mr. FAZIO. Would you submit the savings that have occurred for the record. [The information follows:] Prior to combining of the Republican and Democratic Photographers, expenses for 1981 ran $47,626 for the Minority operation and $23,621 for the Majority. In 1984, the combined operation expended $54,343 on supplies. Mr. LEWIS. The question-for the Doorkeeper's information, the question of partisanship was raised first with me, and I went out of my way to be assured that that was not the case. I want you to know that there is no discrimination; that the discourtesy is extended to Democrats as well as Republicans. Mr. MOLLOY. It does tell us that Democrats and Republicans can work together without a problem. Mr. FAZIO. Any other questions for Mr. Molloy? DISCUSSION ON PAGE PROGRAM Mrs. BOGGS. Is there any progress in bringing the Senate Pages into the same school system? Mr. MOLLOY. No, there isn't. Present here, we have two members of the Page Board. It is one of the agenda items that we are going to look at. There are some people who are happy, both in the Senate and the House, because their needs are different; and it is one of the things we are going to look at. No, there is no progress Mrs. Boggs. Mr. Fazio. I think we owe a great debt of gratitude to Mr. Minish for getting the program off the ground in the fine fashion that it has; and also to Mr. Myers, who has been the chief Republican participant. Mr. MYERS. Chief? The only one. Mr. FAZIO. That is true. You have been holding up your end of things for a long time in several areas and organizations. With the announced retirement of Mr. Whitehurst, he will be a real loss because he spent quite a bit of time working with the school specifically-not the overall Page program, but particularly focusing on the Page school. I hope to put the olive branch across the table to the Senate and see if we can complete our effort to bring us all together in the future. We have had changes in personnel Mr. MYERS. Retirement has taken care of some of that. Mr. FAZIO. We have a good opportunity to bring everybody back together. Any help you can give us in that regard we would appreciate. RELOCATING PAGE SCHOOL Mrs. BOGGS. Is there any rumor towards relocating the school from the Jefferson Building in the Library? Mr. FAZIO. We have to talk about the fire safety issue and some of the things that need to be looked at as we get into the renovation project. Where they are actually relocated temporarily, or perhaps permanently, is something the committee needs to look at and give a lot of attention to. Mrs. Boggs. If the school is relocated at 501 First Street, what is the feasibility of relocating the Residence Hall to the same place? Mr. FAZIO. I couldn't answer. Do you have a thought, Mr. Molloy? Mr. MOLLOY. Not at this time. We are very happy with the Residence Hall where it is. It impacts on the real estate problem on the Hill. We have no intention of moving it. We are in a nice locale, just behind the Cannon Building. We renovated there at a minimum amount of cost. Somebody is going to raise the question about a move. I, for one, won't. I am content and happy. But that could come up. Mr. FAZIO. John, do you want to comment on any of these issues? Mr. MYERS. No. The principal could attest to the fact that the arrangements we have presently-of course, he didn't know what it was beforeMr. KNAUTZ. No. Mr. MOLLOY. Dr. Knautz is the principal. Mrs. Boggs. I think it is working beautifully. But all these questions are going to come up, and you should think about your answers to them. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. FAZIO. Thank you, Mrs. Boggs. Knowing of your interest, I will call on you as a resource to help us with things regarding the Pages. OFFICE OF THE POSTMASTER At this point, without further questions, we will hear from Bob Rota concerning the Office of the Postmaster. Mr. MOLLOY. Mr. Chairman, Members of the Committee, thank you. Mr. GUTHRIE. For the Office of the Postmaster, for salaries, including employment of substitute messengers and extra services of regular employees for the Office of the Postmaster-$2,145,000. This $160,000 increase over the fiscal year 1985 appropriation is attributed to the 3.5 percent cost of living adjustment, longevity increases projected for fiscal year 1986 and an increase in the number of employees as requested by the Postmaster. I would like to insert the table in the record at this time. [The table follows:] Mr. FAZIO. Bob, we welcome you, and please introduce those with you and proceed. Mr. ROTA. Mr. Elmo Boydston, my deputy, is here with me today. Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to appear before you in support of appropriations for the Office of the Postmaster. The total appropriation requested for the Office of the Postmaster for fiscal year 1986 is $2,145,000. This figure represents an increase of $160,000 over last year's appropriation of $1,985,000 to cover mandatory cost of living, longevity salary increases, and three new positions. Mr. Chairman, the total employment of the Office of the Postmaster at the present time is 111 permanent employees, 17 temporaries, ending May 11 of 1985, for a total of 128. Mail volume again is up for the calendar year 1984. Mail volumes, estimated, total 200 million, as compared to 153 million in 1983. This is an increase of 47 million over calendar year 1983. Looking at the chart, 1984 mail volume was 200 million; 1973 mail volume was 40 million. This is hard to believe. In less than 12 years-has increased five-fold. In letter mail alone delivered by the Postal Service, for this past calendar year 1984 volume was, 40,368,000. That volume compares to the total mail volume for the entire House of Representatives for the calendar year 1973. That is letter mail only, that being only a small portion of the mail received in the House of Representatives today as letter mail from the Postal Service. The organizational mail-which makes up the great majority of incoming mail-all comes to us in bulk in big cartons containing 45-218 0-85--3 hundreds of thousands of pieces of mail counted as one unit. For instance, during the steel negotiations in December, the Speaker of the House, in one day-one day-received 15 million pieces of mail on steel contracts, from Western Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia. All came in on one delivery. Mr. FAZIO. Did Mr. Murtha bring it himself, Mr. TRAXLER. That is almost twice the population of Pennsylvania. Mr. ROTA. It was Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania. Mr. MYERS. We have steel mills in Indiana. Mr. ROTA. We understand it was from those States. [The statement of Mr. Rota follows:] 1 MR. CHAIRMAN AND MEMBERS OF THE SUBCOMMITTEE, I AM PLEASED TO APPEAR BEFORE YOU IN SUPPORT OF THE TOTAL APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE OFFICE OF THE POSTMASTER. SALARY INCREASES, AND THREE NEW POSITIONS. DEVELOPMENTS IN 1984 LAST YEAR, INCOMING MAIL VOLUME WAS UP COMPARED WITH CALENDAR YEAR 1983 -- 200 MILLION ITEMS IN 1984 AS COMPARED 94 WITH 153 MILLION IN 1983. THE 1984 TOTAL CONTINUES TO REFLECT A RETURN TO THE TRADITIONAL PATTERN OF GROWTH IN MAIL VOLUME EXPERIENCED OVER THE PAST DECADE. THE STEADY GROWTH OF INCOMING MAIL VOLUME OVER THE PAST TWELVE YEARS, WITH PARTICULAR ATTENTION GIVEN TO THE DRAMATIC INCREASE IN 1981, REFLECTS A NUMBER OF FACTORS; PARTICULARLY THE INCREASED ACTIVITY OF MEMBERS OF CONGRESS AND THE EXPANDED EFFORTS OF ORGANIZATIONS WHICH USE |