I. SENATE CHAMBER PROCEEDINGS-A DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE REPORTING FUNCTION The following is a detailed step-by-step description of each stage of the verbatim reporting function from the spoken word to the final delivery of the completed transcript to the Government Printing Office. The stages described are: A. The reporting process B. The dictation process C. The transcription process-Expert transcribers D. The reporter editing process E. The chief reporter editing process F. The logging and distribution process G. Review, refinement, and correction by Senators and aides I. The interim Record A. THE REPORTING PROCESS 1. The 10-Minute Relay System. Proceedings in the Senate Chamber, as noted above, are reported verbatim in 10-minute relays by the seven official reporters, four with the use of stenotype machines and three with the Gregg and Pitman systems of shorthand. Senators speak in the Senate Chamber both extemporaneously and from prepared manuscript. The reporters record verbatim all words spoken in the Senate Chamber, whether extemporaneous or read from manuscript. The staff assistant is seated at the official reporter's table in the well of the Chamber and makes whatever notes are necessary to carry out the function of assisting the reporters and procures for the reporters prepared remarks and reference material used by Senators in debate. By reason of continual presence in the Senate Chamber the staff assistant is in a position to advise reporters at the beginning of their 10-minute turns as to the present status of floor activity; i.e., the pending business, the scheduled speakers, and any particular problems that might be encountered. In addition, the staff assistant also advises the Chief Reporter of Chamber activity. (See exhibit A.) 2. Use of Manuscript by Senators. With variations in the frequency of use, Senators make use of prepared manuscript when delivering their remarks on the floor of the Senate. Occasionally the Senator or his aide will supply to the reporter a copy of his prepared remarks in advance of the Senator being recognized to speak. În other instances, a Senator may hand his prepared text to the reporter upon completion of his remarks. In still other instances, the reporter may be told that the text of the prepared remarks will be delivered to the reporter's office later in the day. MANUSCRIPT PROBLEMS (a) Prepared manuscript. Overall, the use of prepared manuscript by Senators creates a greater problem for the reporter who is recording verbatim the speech of a Senator than if the Senator were speaking extemporaneously. Using a manuscript, the Senator may hurriedly deliver his remarks, skip certain words, phrases, sentences, or paragraphs, and on occasion even pages. A particular problem arising from this practice is determining whether a Senator deliberately omitted certain portions of his prepared text or whether it is his intention that a reporter include all of the prepared copy in the transcript. Generally, the reporters have come to know the desire of some Senators, but more often it is necessary to check with the Senator or his aide to determine if all of the manuscript is to be included. (b) Interpolations. Often when Senators use prepared manuscript they will frequently interpolate extraneous remarks. Later the reporter may be advised to either include both prepared and spoken remarks or to simply "lay in" the prepared remarks as handed to the staff assistant and then to the reporter. (c) One page read-10 pages submitted. A common practice is for a Senator to come to the Chamber with a prepared speech consisting of many pages, to read perhaps one paragraph or one page, and then to instruct the reporter to include the entire prepared speech in his remarks. (d) Condition of copy. In most cases, the copy which is furnished to the reporter by the Senator or his aide is in good condition from the standpoint of grammar, English usage, spelling, and punctuation. However, in some cases there are misspellings, incorrect grammar, use of contractions, and use of the forbidden "you." In the latter case it is the duty of the reporter to refine the submitted manuscript to meet the standards necessary for printing in the Congressional Record. (e) Delayed manuscript. When the reporter is told that the manuscript will be furnished later in the day or before the deadline for delivery of the transcript to the Government Printing Office, major problems are presented, such as reference to quotations, inclusion of unusual spellings, names, or other peculiarities, and possible errors because of the rapid speed at which the manuscript might have been read. Many times Senators will not release copy from which they have read or copy they have requested to have printed in the Record until hours later because they wish to retain the copy for future use during debate or perhaps are having it rewritten or refined. It is primarily the duty of the staff assistant to assure the procurement of delayed copy of the Record, although frequently the copy is supplied by aides at the time they review the transcript. Occasionally, there are other sources available for material, and it can be procured elsewhere, thus not holding up the flow of copy. All of the transcript and manuscript must be checked by the Chief Reporter prior to delivery to the GPO. 3. Material Inserted during Colloquy. In support of statements or positions taken by a Senator, it is a common practice to ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record such material as letters, reports, articles, tabular matter, and editorials. This mate rial is published in the Record in a smaller size type, commonly known as 61⁄2-point type. Occasionally a Senator asks that material be inserted in the Record which contains a graph or chart which, under Senate rules, may not be printed. When this occurs, the Senator is advised of this rule and he modifies his request accordingly. 4. Votes-Reporter Duty. The official reporter is present in the Senate Chamber during all Senate proceedings. During votes the reporter does not keep a tally of the voting process but is supplied with a copy of the official tally by the legislative clerk through the staff assistant. This tally is provided approximately 15 minutes after the result of a vote is announced. Should a vote occur during a reporter's turn, there are certain procedures which are followed in setting forth these proceedings for the Record. 5. Quorum Calls-Reporter Duty. Quorum calls occur many times during a session of the Senate. In most instances, the suggestion of an absence of a quorum is merely a method of bridging a gap during which there is a delay in proceedings and the reporter simply notes in his transcript that the legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll. Thereafter, the quorum call is suspended and the proceedings continue. However, at times there is an earnest desire to ascertain that there is a quorum of Senators present. When that occurs, a reporter does not keep an actual tally of the names called but is later supplied with the official tally by the legislative clerk. This tally and the proceedings connected with the "live" quorum call are included in the reporter's transcript. 6. Privileges of the Floor. In rapid sequence, one Senator after another may rise to ask unanimous consent that the privilege of the floor be granted to certain members of his staff. Often the names are not clearly stated and are not provided to the reporter. Much time is spent checking and doublechecking the correct names of persons for whom the privilege of the floor is requested and granted. 7. Amplification System. There is an amplification system in the Senate Chamber. Although it is a sophisticated system, it does create problems occasionally for the reporter. There are some positions in the Senate Chamber from which it is difficult to understand what the Senator is saying; at times, it is difficult to know from what direction the speech is coming if the reporter has not been able to see a Senator rise to address the Senate; and on other occasion, Senators fail to use their microphones or improperly use their microphones. 8. Reporter Mobility. Despite the sophisticated amplification system in the Chamber, it is necessary for the reporters to do nearly all of the verbatim reporting while standing or walking. Senators speak from their desks in the Chamber, and, in the course of debates, Senators positioned at the extreme ends of the Chamber may rise to participate. Reporters must position themselves in the most advantageous way to most accurately record what is being said. Aides and Senators may at times crowd the well, the aisles, or rows, impeding the ability of the reporters to best position themselves. Through training and experience, they come to know the troublesome areas when there is likely to be an instance of several Senators speaking, or addressing the chair, seeking recognition, or simply overlapping each other. 9. Five-Minute Turns. Although the reporters are normally on 10minute turns, at the end of the day when the Chief Reporter is reasonably sure that the Senate is in the closing stages of the session and within 30 minutes of adjournment for the day, the reporters are placed on 5-minute turns. This procedure accomplishes two purposes: (1) The end-of-the-day production of the transcript is expedited; and (2) one reporter does not get an especially heavy turn or a lengthy and complicated turn. In this way the transcript is available sooner for delivery to the Government Printing Office. In addition, frequently the majority leader or members of the Democratic Policy Committee, or other Senate officials wish to review the program as stated by the majority leader at the end of each day, and this material is then ready for review sooner than it would be with 10-minute turns. B. THE DICTATION PROCESS 1. Reporter Refinement. Upon completion of a 10-minute turn in the Senate Chamber, the reporter returns to the Office of the Official Reporters and proceeds to dictate the notes taken on the floor of the Senate, or to prepare the notes, if they are stenotype notes, to be read by the expert transcribers. In the dictation process, the reporter makes grammatical refinements, checks the spelling of all names, makes certain that the proceedings reported conform to the Government_Style Manual requirements, the requirements of the rules of the Senate, as well as the reporter's form book. 2. Headlines. The reporter supplies headlines for the proceedings each time the subject changes and supplies subheadlines where needed. 3. Rulings. Where there is a question about parliamentary procedures, the reporters check with the Parliamentarian to ascertain the correct reporting of a ruling by the presiding officer. 4. Manuscript. The reporter also must weave together any prepared manuscript with the interpolations that have been made during the delivery of remarks on the floor. The reporter must screen the manuscript where pages are submitted but have been unspoken and check for correctness of grammar, spelling, and capitalization. 5. Time. Ordinarily, the reporter will spend two to four times the amount of time spent in the Chamber to dictate or prepare the notes for the transcribers, with a multiple of three being the average. Therefore, if a reporter has spent 10 minutes in the Senate Chamber, it will take 20 to 30 minutes to prepare notes for the transcription process and dictating the notes if that system is used. C. THE TRANSCRIPTION PROCESS-EXPERT TRANSCRIBERS The expert transcribers use both dictation equipment and read stenotype notes. They are expert in the use of grammar, punctuation, spelling, and capitalization. They have a familiarity with the Senate rules and procedures, as well as the reporter's form book. They must be familiar with names, places, current events, etc. There are six expert transcribers who prepare in typewritten form on legal-size paper the transcription of the reporters' notes. The transcribers are divided into teams and assigned to cover a specific time period during an hour. However, when there is an adjournment or recess, all transcribers help one another. Under this procedure, reporters' turns are taken in sequence. In addition, if a reporter's turn is very short, the transcribers will help the teams still working. The main objective is to prepare the copy as fast as possible. All transcribers assist in reviewing additional statements, and typing absentees (not voting) on rollcall votes. In the event a transcriber is absent for a day or part of a day, the transcribers work as a pool. There is also a late schedule and a system of rotation for late duty. The reporter breaks down the notes for the transcription process so that, in turn, each transcriber types a page to a page and a half of the reporter's take sequentially. The transcription process is done with such speed using this method that by the time the reporter has finished processing and dictating the notes for the transcribers, all the transcription process is completed except for the last page or two, which is delivered shortly thereafter. Time Factor. Up to this point, approximately 25 to 30 minutes have passed since the reporter returned from the Chamber with the 10-minute turn on the floor of the Senate. D. THE REPORTER-EDITING PROCESS When the typed transcript is returned, the reporter will carefully read the transcript from beginning to end, and at the same time compare it with the original notes. All quotations and spellings are checked. Any prepared manuscript submitted by the Senator is reviewed for grammatical and other inconsistencies. The prepared manuscript, where necessary, is inserted at the appropriate place in the transcript. If there is an area in the transcript about which the reporter is uncertain, it is flagged for the attention of the Chief Reporter. The reporter must also include in the transcript all inserted material which has been included by unanimous-consent request such as articles, reports, letters, and editorials. The reporter provides preliminary printer symbols in the transcript and supplies necessary headlines whenever the Senate changes subject matter. Republican and Democratic announcements of pairings and absences are provided by the Secretary for the majority and the minority, and these as well as the vote tallies are inserted at the appropriate point in the manuscript. The sentence structure used by Senators is also closely inspected by the reporter so that grammatical errors are eliminated. The reporter eliminates false starts by speakers. The reporter must check, when in doubt, with the preceding reporter and the following reporter to insure continuity in his turn. The reporter must procure, usually from the assistant reporter |