Lapas attēli
PDF
ePub

ate home page on the World Wide Web. During the Second Session, phase two of the project will include the following improvements:

-The ability to scan all amendments proposed on the Senate floor. This will provide the Senate public with near real-time access to proposed amendments. -Data entered into LEGIS will automatically be retrieved into the amendment scanning system, so duplicate data entry will be eliminated.

DAILY DIGEST

The Daily Digest section of the Congressional Record provides a concise accounting of all official actions taken by the Senate on a particular day. All Senate hearings and business meetings (including joint meetings and conferences) are scheduled through the Daily Digest, reported on daily, and are published in the Congressional Record.

Chamber Activity

The Senate was in session a total of 153 days, for a total of 1,093 hours and 07 minutes. There were 6 quorum calls and 298 record votes.

Committee Activity

Senate committees held 824 hearings and 247 business meetings (total 1,071), contrasted with 892 hearings and 278 business meetings (total 1,170) during the 1st Session of the 104th Congress.

All hearings and business meetings (including joint meetings and conferences) are scheduled through the Office of the Senate Daily Digest and are published in the Congressional Record and entered in the LEGIS hearings file. Meeting outcomes are also published by the Daily Digest in the Congressional Record each day. Government Printing Office

Continuing a practice in preceding Congresses, the Daily Digest office discusses with the Government Printing Office problems encountered with the printing of the Daily Digest section. Corrections or transcript errors have become very infrequent.

ENROLLING CLERK

The Enrolling Clerk prepares, proofreads, corrects, and prints all Senate-passed legislation prior to its transmittal to the House of Representatives, the National Archives, the Secretary of State, the United States Claims Court, and the White House.

During 1997, 50 enrolled bills (transmitted to the President) and 13 concurrent resolutions (transmitted to Archives) were prepared, printed, proofread, corrected, and printed on parchment.

A total of 323 additional pieces of legislation in one form or another, was enacted or agreed to by the Senate, requiring processing and printing from this office.

EXECUTIVE CLERK

The Executive Clerk prepares an accurate record of actions taken by the Senate during executive sessions (proceedings on nominations and treaties) which is published as the Executive Journal at the end of each session of Congress. The Executive Clerk also prepares daily the Executive Calendar as well as all nomination and treaty resolutions for transmittal to the President.

Nominations

During the first session of the 105th Congress, there were 825 nomination messages sent to the Senate by the President, transmitting 25,828 nominations to positions requiring Senate confirmation and 13 messages withdrawing nominations previously sent to the Senate during the session. Of the total nominations transmitted, 500 were for civilian positions other than lists in the Foreign Service, Coast Guard and Public Health Service. In addition, there were 3,105 nominees in the "civilian list" categories named above. Military nominations received this session totaled 22,223 (8,141 in the Air Force, 6,246 in the Army, 6,157 in the Navy and 1,679 in the Marine Corps). The Senate confirmed 25,576 nominations this session and 2 nominations were returned to the President pursuant to the provisions of paragraph 6 of Senate Rule XXXI at the sine die adjournment of the 105th Congress.

Treaties

There were 32 treaties transmitted to the Senate by the President during the first session of the 105th Congress for its advice and consent to ratification, which were ordered printed as treaty documents for the use of the Senate (Treaty Doc. 105-1 through 105-32).

The Senate gave its advice and consent to 15 treaties with various conditions, declarations, understandings and provisos to the resolutions of advice and consent to raufication

Executive Reports and Roll Call Votes

There were 13 executive reports relating to treaties ordered printed for the use of the Senate during the first session of the 105th Congress (Executive Reports 105– 1 through 106-13).

The Senate conducted 30 roll call votes in executive session, 22 on or in relation to nominations and seven on amendments to and final passage of the Chemical Weapons Treaty.

JOURNAL CLERK

The Journal Clerk takes notes of the daily legislative proceedings of the Senate in the "Minute Book" and prepares a history of bills and resolutions for the printed Senate Journal that is the legal record of the Senate. The Senate Journal is published each calendar year.

In March of 1997 the Journal unexpectedly lost its Assistant Journal Clerk, Mark Lacovara, along with his 28 years of knowledge and experience, due to ill health and an early retirement. The Journal operated with a two-person staff for the next four months and still has a two-person floor rotation.

Scott Sanborn replaced Mark Lacovara in mid-July and will soon become a part of the floor rotation. This will bring the office to a three-person rotation, enabling the Clerks to spend one hour on the floor and two in the office. The three-person rotation restores early-1997 production capability, and allows work on an extra project taken on in January 1994 (the typesetting and formatting element).

The 1997 volume will go to the Government Printing Office for distribution no later than the end of March of this year. The legislative days are finished in their initial form and the data is entered into our database. This allowed keeping 1998 current. The completion of 1997 will not interfere with progress during 1998.

LEGISLATIVE CLERK

The Legislative Clerk sits at the Secretary's desk in the Senate Chamber and reads aloud bills, amendments, the Senate Journal, Presidential messages, and other such materials when so directed by the Presiding Officer of the Senate. The Legislative Clerk calls the roll of members to establish the presence of a quorum and records all yea and nay votes. This office prepares the Senate Calendar of Business, published each day that the Senate is in session, and prepares additional publications relating to Senate class membership and committee and subcommittee assignments. The Legislative Clerk maintains the official copy of all measures pending before the Senate and incorporates into those measures any amendments that may be agreed to. This office retains custody of official messages received from the House of Representatives and conference reports awaiting action by the Senate. The office is also responsible for verifying the accuracy of the information entered into the LEGIS system by the various offices of the Secretary. In addition, this office is very involved in the Secretary's multi-year, comprehensive program to redesign and rebuild the Senate's system for the collection and management of its legislative information (LIS).

Summary of Activity

The first session of the 105th Congress completed its legislative business and adjourned on November 13, 1997. During 1997, the Senate was in session 153 days, for a total of 1,093 hours, and conducted 298 roll call votes. There were 248 measures reported from committees, 385 total measures passed, and were 111 items remaining on the Calendar at the time of adjournment. In addition, there were 1,639 amendments submitted. These and other statistics important to this office are reflected in Table 1-Legislative summary.

Legislative Information System (LIS)

The LEGIS Re-engineering or LEGIS 2000 Project has now been absorbed into the new LIS initiative and the legislative staff has been involved in the development of the system requirement documents over the past year. When implemented, it will require training and retraining to convert from the current mainframe to a document management system (DMS). Some offices under the Secretary, especially the Journal Clerks and the Enrolling Clerk, should derive much benefit from the ability to capture and manipulate data that is currently inaccessible or very difficult to attain. This new system will allow the legislative staff to provide even more information to Senate offices and the public in a more timely manner.

Amendment Scanning

In 1997, the Secretary's office began scanning amendments, as they are offered, in the Amendment Tracking System.

Committee Scheduling

Efforts have been under way this year to improve access to the Daily Digest's committee scheduling information. During the recess, prior to reconvening, Daily Digest staff and others from the Secretary's offices attended a demonstration arranged by the Sergeant at Arms. Vendor representatives demonstrated a product that could be modified for the Digest.

OFFICE OF OFFICIAL REPORTERS OF DEBATES

The Official Reporters of Debates prepare and edit for publication in the Congressional Record a substantially verbatim report of the proceedings of the Senate, and serve as liaison for all Senate personnel on matters relating to the content of the Record. The transcript of proceedings, submitted statements and legislation are transmitted daily to the Government Printing Office. The Chief Reporter functions as editor in chief and the Coordinator functions as technical production manager of the Senate portion of the Record.

Accomplishments

The Official Reporters continue to use the computer-aided transcription system. During 1997, all verbal proceedings occurring on the floor of the United States Senate were transcribed and transmitted to the GPO via transcript of proceedings (paper) and electronically through the fiber-optic system. As mentioned in previous reports, the workload of this office has not decreased but, by providing GPO electronic as well as paper copy, the overall workload at GPO is reduced and, thus, the overall cost of production of the Record should be reduced.

In addition to submitting all verbal proceedings to GPO via electronic means, we are continuing to encourage all Senate offices to provide, in addition to paper copy, either by e-mail or disk, an electronic version of all submitted statements. Currently, approximately 60 to 80 percent of written statements are submitted electronically. Although the submissions are not at the optimal 90 to 100 percent range, more Senate offices are cooperating as we continue an ongoing effort to communicate our needs and educate staff on the process and methods for e-mailing electronic statements.

Personnel Changes

In September of 1997, we lost the services of Coordinator of the Record Scott Sanborn, who was selected to become a member of the Office of the Journal Clerk. Scott was a valuable asset to this office and our loss is definitely the Journal Clerks' gain. However, Eileen Milton, one of our transcribers and an equally able member of our staff, was appointed to replace Scott as Coordinator of the Record.

Eileen is a quick study and is performing her tasks exceptionally well. Eileen Milton's elevation to Coordinator of the Record left a vacancy in the transcribers' section of this office. In addition, transcriber Don Corrigan announced that he would be retiring at the end of February, 1998. This will translate to the loss of two of the three transcribers, with Eileen Connor, the Supervisory Transcriber, the remaining transcriber to instruct and guide new transcribers.

Morning Business

The Morning Business Unit has dealt effectively with a marked increase of items being processed through their office. The number of communications has surged exponentially since the passage of Public Law 104-121 (the Contract with America Advancement Act of 1996), and the office processed approximately 800 executive communication items during the recess period alone. In addition, President's Messages are expected to grow in volume due to the passage of Public Law 104–130 (the line-item veto law), which requires the President to inform the Senate each time he strikes items from legislation. Recent court decisions concerning the line item veto may affect the workload.

Goals

The goals for the coming year include continuing to transmit electronic files to GPO of all verbal proceedings on the floor of the Senate, increasing the volume of submitted (not spoken on the floor) statements by informing and educating staff of the e-mail process and the proper format for submitting statements, training replacement transcribers in the process of rapidly and accurately producing the Record, as well as learning other tasks performed by the Coordinator, and looking

into the possibility of creating a Web page to inform staff of Record format, our email address, and procedures involved in submitting statements for inclusion in the Record.

Cost Savings

Amendments.-The text of all amendments are printed under the "Amendments Submitted" portion of the Record. During 1997, we continued the practice of not printing amendments over 10 pages in length in the body of the proceedings of the Senate but only in the "Amendments Submitted" portion. When an amendment over 10 pages is proposed on the floor, it is referenced to the "Amendments Submitted" portion, saving the costs of duplicate printing. Two-thousand and twenty-nine (2,029) pages of duplicate amendments were not printed, equating to a cost savings of approximately $123,580. The cost of a Record page, as estimated by the GPO, is approximately $466 per page for the first two pages and $270 per page for each additional page.

Application of provision of paragraph 13 of Laws and Rules for Publication of the Record. The effort has continued to enforce the provisions of this paragraph of the Rules, the so-called two-page rule, which says, in effect, no extraneous matter in excess of two Record pages shall be printed in the Record without the cost of printing of the material being announced on the Record at the time of submission. Submission of material exceeding the two-page rule has declined since the education process has started. When Senators are informed of the cost involved, their staff will either withdraw the material or substantially reduce the size to conform to the twopage rule.

PARLIAMENTARIAN

The Parliamentarian advises the Chair, Senators and their staff, committee staff, House members and their staffs, and administration officials on all matters requiring an interpretation of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the precedents of the Senate, and provisions of public law affecting the proceedings of the Senate.

During the last year the Parliamentarian's Office continued to perform its normal legislative duties. These include advising the Chair, Senators and their staff as well as committee staff, House members and their staffs, administration officials, the media and members of the general public on all matters requiring interpretation of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the precedents of the Senate, unanimous consent agreements, and provisions of public law affecting the proceedings of the Senate. The Office of the Parliamentarian is responsible for the referral of all legislation introduced in the Senate, all legislation received from the House, and all communications received from the executive branch. The office worked extensively with Senators and their staffs to advise them of the jurisdictional consequences of particular drafts of legislation, and evaluated the jurisdictional effect of proposed modifications in drafting.

The office continues to analyze and advise Senators on a great number of issues arising under the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, requiring meetings with competing groups of staff. At every stage of the budget cycle, this office was called upon to arbitrate large numbers of budget-related questions. The Parliamentarian's Office was constantly asked to answer questions during consideration on the Senate floor of the budget resolution and the reconciliation bill it produced. 1997 has seen the continued development of Kevin Kayes as the First Assistant Parliamentarian into an equal partner in the triumvirate of Parliamentarians.

As always, Sally Goffinet, the Parliamentary Assistant, continues to provide invaluable service in all administrative and clerical matters. She also performs with a high degree of professional competency the substantive work of referring to committee most executive communications received by the Senate, and answering a significant number of questions about procedure. These responsibilities often entail legislative or legal research.

PRINTING AND DOCUMENT SERVICES

Printing and Document Services documents Senate printing expenses and functions as GPO liaison to schedule and/or distribute Senate bills and reports to the Chamber, Senate staff, and the public, provides page counts of Senate hearings to commercial reporting companies, orders and tracks all paper and envelopes provided to Senate offices, provides general printing services for Senate offices, and assures that Senate printing is in compliance with Title 44, U.S. Code, as it relates to Senate documents, hearings, committee prints, and other official publications.

Background

Printing and Document Services has the responsibility for coordinating the printing and/or distribution of most of the Senate's official Title 44 (U.S.C.) printing. The coordination of all Senate documents, hearings, committee prints, and miscellaneous publications between the Senate and GPO is our responsibility, as is the distribution of Senate and House legislation. Virtually all blank paper, letterhead, and envelopes throughout the Senate are ordered through this office. Additionally, commercial reporting companies are remunerated for transcribing all Senate hearings through our billing verification service.

Efforts are underway to consolidate, restructure, and cross-train personnel. During this past year, two positions have been eliminated through attrition, thereby saving approximately $40,000 per year.

Total Publications

During the first session of the 105th Congress, 369 publications (hearings, committee prints, Senate documents, Senate publications) were printed. This compares with 354 publications printed during the first session of the 104th Congress, or an increase of about 4 percent.

Hearings Transcripts and Billing Verifications

Billing verifications are the vehicle by which reporting companies request payment from a committee for their transcription services. During 1997, we provided commercial reporting companies and the corresponding Senate committees a total of 1,105 billing verifications of Senate hearings and business meetings (including hearings which were canceled or postponed, but still requiring payment to the reporting company). This averages 53 hearings or meetings per committee. Compared with 782 billing verifications in 1996, there was an increase of about 41 percent in the number of hearings processed.

Commercial reporting companies charged the Senate approximately $585,956 to prepare 89,020 transcript pages of the spoken portions of Senate hearings (compared to 1996 figures of $440,875 to prepare 66,188 transcribed pages) for an average annual cost of about $29,903 per committee, and an average of 4,239 spoken transcript pages per committee during 1997. In 1996, the average annual cost per committee was $16,957, and an average of 2,545 spoken transcript pages.

[blocks in formation]

Printing and Document Services prepared 5,916 printing requisitions during fiscal year 1997, authorizing GPO to print the Senate's work, exclusive of legislation and the Record. This is an increase of about 14 percent over fiscal year 1996.

Paper, Letterhead and Envelopes

Printing and Document Services provides and maintains an accounting of blank paper, letterheads, and envelopes for all Senate offices. The total blank sheets and letterheads ordered in 1997 were about 102.5 million sheets, an increase of 30 million sheets compared to 1996. In 1997, the Senate used about 7.9 million envelopes, compared to 7.6 million in 1996.

Mini Document Room

Printing and Document Services serves the combined leadership by coordinating the distribution of all Senate-introduced and Calendar bills, reports, resolutions, and conference reports, including all legislation which has passed the House. Distribution is made to the Chamber, the Secretary's Office and leadership offices. Data entry into the legislative database and DocuTech databases is the responsibility of this section.

Cost Accounting Projects and Duties

In addition to the ability to advise offices about turnaround and the method of reproduction, while assuring compliance with Title 44 U.S.C., this office provides ac

« iepriekšējāTurpināt »