According to J. Lea (head clerk), the extensions are sent to the GPO in the order in which they were received for same-night printing if possible. If the extension exceeds two Record typeset pages, it is returned to the Member with a printing cost estimate as established by the GPO. The Official Reporters' Office will not include it in the nightly "extensions package" to the GPO until the Member informs the House of the additional cost and is granted (by unanimous consent) permission to print.

The clerks also assure that no extraneous matter is printed in the House proceedings, with the following exceptions: (a) Excerpts from letters, telegrams, or articles presented in connection with a speech delivered in the course of debate; (b) communications from State legislatures; (c) addresses or articles by the President and the Members of his Cabinet, the Vice President, or a Member of Congress. Any matter submitted to the Reporters' Office which is in contravention of these provisions is returned to the Member unless that Member has been granted leave to print the material under the "Extensions of Remarks."

The clerks are responsible for coordination between the membership and the GPO if tabular matter is to be printed. Tabular matter is requested to be sent to the GPO 2 days in advance of printing, if at all possible. Not more than six sets of proofs of tabular matter or advance speeches are furnished to the Member without charge.

The clerks are also responsible for keeping track of the 5-day and 30-day limitation rules; i.e., assuring that no speech or extension of remarks that has been withheld for a period exceeding 30 calendar days from the date printing is authorized is published. The same rule holds true for corrections. (NOTE.-The time limit is set at 10 days at the end of the session.)

Once the previous day's Record has been verified, the work for the current legislative day begins.

The House convenes each day, Monday through Friday, at an hour set by its previous order. The hour is flexible and can range from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The day begins with a prayer offered by either the Chaplain of the House or a visiting clergyman. This is followed by the announcement by the Speaker of the approval of the preceding day's Journal. Members are then recognized for various unanimous-consent requests, 1-minute speeches, personal explanations, etc. Following this, the legislation scheduled for the day will be called up by the floor manager. The ground rules for debate and the offering of amendments may be set by the Rules of the House or by a resolution submitted by the Rules Committee; the resolution(s) is debated and voted upon before consideration of the bill(s) in question.

Toward the end of the day, at the conclusion of the legislative business, the Speaker may take further unanimous-consent requests. Following this, Special Orders are called. Under this procedure, Members may ask for and take set amounts of time, up to 60 minutes, in which to deliver speeches on any subject that they desire to discuss. At the end of the Special Orders the House stands adjourned until the time set on the following day.

The Official Reporters of Debates are responsible for the reporting of all proceedings on the House floor. This is the beginning of the production of the Congressional Record.

There are eight official reporters. Each of the reporters currently employed by the House has had over 25 years of experience in all phases of verbatim shorthand reporting before coming to the House. They have all passed high-speed shorthand from 200 to 260 words per minute, and each is a registered professional reporter with the National Shorthand Reporters Association. In addition to these shorthand reporting skills, they are required to have an extensive knowledge of the parliamentary procedures peculiar to the House. Because of this last requirement, together with the difficulties of reporting on the House floor, a training period of approximately 6 months after the date of employment is necessary. This training cannot be obtained anywhere else, since there is no other institution remotely comparable to this environment with the exception of the U.S. Senate.

Working on a rotating basis, each reporter takes a 5-minute turn on the floor. This means that the reporter beginning the day at 10 a.m. will be relieved at 10:05, and will again be ready to take his second turn at 10:40. During this 35-minute period, the reporters notes are transcribed, typed, proofread, corrected, and returned to the House floor. About 5 minutes are utilized in gathering necessary papers and traveltime between the House floor and the Reporters' Office on the first floor.

The reporter arrives on the House floor 5 minutes before the segment for two reasons: No. 1, is to begin to get a quick understanding of what is taking place on the floor, assuring that the notes will be continuous and that the reporter change will be a smooth operation.

No. 2, under rule XXXIV, a second Member may demand to have the "words taken down" that were spoken by another Member, in anticipation of having the words stricken. This process requires the presence of two reporters on the floor.

Since it is not mandatory in every case that a Member speak at one of the microphones (located at the majority and minority leaders' desks, and in the well), the reporters are required to be mobile in order to hear what is being said. Traditionally, the office of the Reporter of Debates has always been staffed with hand shorthand writers (currently all of the reporters use Gregg shorthand). Easy mobility, afforded by hand shorthand using a notebook, is important in an often crowded and noisy environment.

Experience has proven that the goal of speeding delivery of the transcript to the floor of the House is best accomplished by dividing each reporter's tour of duty (referred to as a "turn") in a 5-minute segment. The 5-minute segment allows the hard copy of the transcript to be returned to the floor within 30 minutes for distribution to and correction by the Members.

In reality, a period of 25 minutes is all that remains for a reporter to dictate, proofread, and coordinate with the other reporters the actual production of the transcript. The reporter then is required to begin his or her next turn.

Extensions of remarks, if available at the time of the proceed

ings, are submitted to the reporter or to the clerk from the Reporters' Office (located at the front of the Chamber at the Speaker's rostrum).

2.4 DICTATION AND TRANSCRIPTION OF NOTES

At the end of the 5-minute segment, the reporter is replaced by a second reporter, and returns to the first-floor office where his or her transcriber is waiting. Currently, the transcribers use a Selectric typewriter with the Correcto ribbon for production of the hard copy of the transcripts.

The transcribers now employed by the House are men and women of many years' experience in this field. Before coming to the House Official Reporters of Debates, each has worked for several years for shorthand reporting firms, State courts, the Supreme Court, the White House, or the House Committee Reporters. The transcribers can better be defined as professional typists, qualifying at speeds of over 100 words per minute for long periods of time and frequently reaching speeds of 140 words per minute for short periods of time. They have a comprehensive grasp of the English language and its spellings, and a detailed knowledge of Government terminology. Consequently, a fast, error-free transcript is produced.

Each transcriber is able to work with any reporter in the office, and does so in case of illness or absence of one or the other. After experimentation with a number of methods of handling their dictation, the House reporters have found the use of the Dictaphone Memory Bank system as being most efficient. The reporter and transcriber must sit in close proximity to each other. The reporter begins dictation of his or her stenographic notes, speaking into the dictaphone. The transcriber, using a set of earphones, begins typing within 20 seconds. No tapes are produced, but the transcriber may ask the reporter to repeat what was said for clarification, or the reporter may ask the transcriber to return to some written material or may make changes during the transcription.

Each reporter has his or her own pages for numbering of the segments. The following table contains samples of the assigned page numbers and their use. The first page for each speaker usually begins with the statement granting permission for a Member to speak. For example:

(Mr. RHODES asked and was given permission to address the House for minutes *)

or

* *

The CHAIRMAN. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. GRASSLEY)

or

(Mr. TUCKER asked and was granted permission to revise and extend his remarks)

or

(Mr. THOMPSON asked and was granted permission to revise and extend his remarks at this point in the RECORD.)

The transcriber "pulls the page" after typing the "recognition" or "permission" statements. This practice facilitates the separating of business from colloquy, and it insures that correct parliamentary

procedure phraseology is included in the Record. It also identifies changes in speakers to assure that each Member in control of the time receives his pages of the transcript.

(A) If Mr. Pennekemp takes the last turn on Monday, Mr. Gustafson begins Tuesday's first turn. The first page of the day is numbered as follows:

1-76

NOTE: This same procedure is followed if a reporter is absent; i.e., if Mr. Henterly was not reporting, Mr. Pennekemp would begin his turn with:

50-63

(B) If Mr. Gustafson's turn requires the typing of only five pages, the 5th page is numbered as follows:

80-87

(C) Should Mr. Gustafson's turn require the typing of more than 12 pages, the final pages of his turn are numbered as followed: 86 (86A follows)

86A

86Z

86AA

to

86ZZ (87 follows)

87

By using the page-numbering system described above, reporter/transcriber teams can work concurrently with no delay. In addition, should GPO have any questions concerning the transcript, the reporter to call can be immediately identified by looking at the page number.

Only one copy (the original) of the transcript is produced. It is typed on 82- by 14-inch paper, quadruple spaced, 61 characters per line, with no specific number of lines per page. Each page is numbered consecutively according to the pages as assigned to the reporter for that specific segment. Should the number of pages exceed the number of pages assigned, the pages following the second to the last page assigned are numbered with that number followed by an 'A,' 'B,' 'C,' etc. The final page is numbered with the closing number of the segment. (See fig. 2-1 for a description of page-numbering variations.) Should any questions arise at any time concerning the transcript, the reporter responsible for the segment can be immediately identified and contacted.

The Reporters' Office is responsible for assuring that correct parliamentary procedure is utilized in the Record: i.e., the wording of the transcript is stated in the correct form.

Accuracy of the transcript is also the responsibility of the reporter, and the final product is proofread for content as well as typing accuracy.

From the above description of the reporting and transcription processes, the following statements concerning office procedures can be made:

(1) Typing speeds, while fluctuating according to the type of text being fed to the transcribers, average over 100 words per minute (or over 8 characters per second).

(2) At any given minute during the day, up to seven reportertranscriber teams may be working at the same time (seven during votes, six at other times).

(3) Printed pages (original only) must be produced at the same time transcription is taking place so that the hard copy transcript can be proofed almost immediately by the reporter, the early pages being proofed before the typing of the last pages is complete.

(4) Corrections are made to the transcript before it leaves the Reporters' Office, thus providing a 100-percent accurate original of the verbatim portion of the Record.

2.5 COORDINATION OF TRANSCRIPT COPY

When the hard copy transcript is completed, it is returned to the reporters' clerk on the floor of the House. The pages are logged in at that time as completed. Normally, the completed transcript is expected to be back on the floor within 30 minutes of the proceedings.

The clerk then folds the transcript twice and marks the back of the copy with the name of the Member who had control of the time included in the segment. Also listed (below that Member's name) are the Members to whom the floor was yielded during that segment. (See sec. 2.6 for further explanation.)

If the Member is on the floor at the time the completed segment is returned, he is handed the transcript immediately. If the Member is not available, the transcript is sent to the Member's office via House page.

In general, the format of all transcripts of colloquy follows that produced by other professional court or general reporters. The transcript is to all intents and purposes a verbatim one, although the reporters are instructed to follow certain editing procedures conforming to the Rules of the House.

When "business" pages (parliamentary procedures) are logged in by the clerk on the floor, the pages are returned to the two reporters in the first floor office who have the "duty" at that time of checking and coordinating the parliamentary procedures. After any necessary changes are written in, the pages are then placed in a designated pickup spot in the office for the GPO messengers to take to the Printing Office, along with any other transcript (returned by Members, advance copies of special orders, extensions, etc.) then available.

The clerks are also responsible for keeping a list of all special orders granted, and for the extensions of remarks permitted that day. These lists are printed in the Record each day immediately before the adjournment announcement.

Samples of original transcript pages as sent to GPO can be found in exhibit B.

2.6 MEMBER EDITING

Control of the transcript is determined by the House rules concerning control of the floor time. Once a Member is recognized (has control of the time), the floor belongs to that Member for that period of time (1 minute speeches; 5 minutes on comments; 1 hour on resolutions; up to 60 minutes on special orders; 1, 2, 3, even 10 hours on some legislation if so provided by a rule resolution.) The