LEGISLATIVE BRANCH APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 1997

On 1996-07-10, Representative Zoe Lofgren (D-CA-18) delivered a floor speech titled "LEGISLATIVE BRANCH APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 1997" in the House.

LEGISLATIVE BRANCH APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 1997

Congressional Record, Volume 142 Issue 101 (Wednesday, July 10, 1996) [Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 101 (Wednesday, July 10, 1996)] [House] [Pages H7171-H7196] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] LEGISLATIVE BRANCH APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 1997 The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 473 and rule XXIII, the Chair declares the House in the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union for consideration of the bill, H.R. 3754. {time} 1240 in the committee of the whole Accordingly the House resolved itself into the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union for the consideration of the bill (H.R. 3754) making appropriations for the legislative branch for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1997, and for other purposes, with Mr. Linder in the chair. The Clerk read the title of the bill. The CHAIRMAN. Pursuant to the rule, the bill is considered as having been read the first time. Under the rule, the gentleman from California [Mr. Packard] and the gentleman from Arkansas [Mr. Thornton] each will control 30 minutes. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California [Mr. Packard]. Mr. PACKARD. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. This bill continues the program we began last year to right size the legislative branch of government. We are trying to become more efficient with a smaller work force and by using technology wherever possible as long as it helps to do our job better. The bill cuts legislative spending for 1997 by $37.4 million. That continues the tone set in the 1996 bill over the last 2-year period. The size of the legislative branch has been reduced by $262 million over the last 2 years. We have also reduced our work force by 1,753 jobs over the last 2- year period, 726 in this year's bill alone. That is a reduction of 6.8 percent of the entire legislative branch work force in a 2-year period. The CBO has indicated through their calculations that, if the entire Federal budget were to be reduced in the same proportion as this committee has reduced the legislative branch budget, we would have a $100 billion surplus in our Federal budget and it would be balanced already. We would make a $100 billion down payment on the national debt, if all other agencies and programs were cut the same level that we have cut ourselves. This is just based on a straightforward extrapolation, but it indicates, I think, the magnitude of the efforts that we have taken in reducing the size and the cost of the legislative branch of government. In specifics, this bill will make permanent law the 90-day prohibition on mass mailing, unsolicited mass mailing before elections. The bill also will fund the CyberCongress, in other words, the computer and telecommunications and information services of Congress. We will be spending about $211 million in this bill in that area. That is 12.5 percent of the entire legislative budget on this whole area of information and telecommunications and the CyberCongress. Also, in this year's bill we are completing the downsizing of the General Accounting Office by 25 percent. That is a 2-year process, this being the final year of that process. We have also converted the permanent edition of the bound Congressional Record, a 26-volume document, to CD ROM. That will expedite the research possibilities for Members of Congress and researchers in general, and it will also save about $1 million a year. We are also converting the congressional serial set, a 60-volume document, to the CD ROM, the electronic information process. That, too, will save about $1 million a year. We are also outsourcing the custodial work at the Ford House Office Building. We are conducting studies to outsource our maintenance and operational work at the powerplant, the congressional powerplant. We are also looking to privatize the Government Printing Office plant more, and the Botanic Garden. {time} 1245 We are also looking to further the public-private collaboration of the National Library Digital Program. All in all we have made great strides in the right direction to bring about fiscal responsibility to the Congress of the United States and to those agencies that are here to support the Congress of the United States. We also are funding the mandatories in this bill; that is, the COLA's for staff, salary and the benefit packages for staff and Federal workers in the Congress. And that, I think, is a must. We are also funding the 1997 inaugural ceremonies at the Capitol, the joint inaugural committee, which we must do every 4 years after the election of a new President. All in all we are very proud of this bill; we think it moves in the right direction. Laster on today we will be hearing amendments, one of which is to cut [[Page H7172]] this bill by almost 2 percent, 1.9 percent. I urge the Members of Congress to realize that this bill already makes major cuts, and has over the last 2 years. No appropriations bill has cut to the level that the legislative branch has cut themselves. It would be irresponsible, I think, to cut ourselves across the board. That would include books for the blind, that would include the staff, the cost of staffing our offices. It would include the CyberCongress, it would include the police, the physicians, and every phase, every part, of this bill would be cut by almost 2 percent after we have already cut ourselves over the last 2 years by almost 12 percent, and that is 12 percent of the dollar amount of the 1995 budget year. Mr. Chairman, it would be absolutely irresponsible, I believe, for us to inflict upon ourselves further cuts when we have set the pattern for cutting back the size of government. And, frankly, it would hurt deeply the Library of Congress, the General Accounting Office, which has accepted a 25 percent cut already over the last 2 years. To ask them to absorb another 2 percent cut again would be a bad-faith effort on the Congress after I have negotiated with the General Accounting Office to work toward this 25 percent. It would be, I think, catastrophic, and I would hope that all Members of Congress would resist this amendment of across-the-board cutting of Congress. Mr. Chairman, I want to express my deep appreciation to the new ranking member of this subcommittee, the gentleman from Arkansas [Mr. Thornton]. He has been a member of the committee and been an extremely active and very, very faithful member of the committee. He has now moved to become the ranking member, and it is a great pleasure on my part to work with him. He has been a great help in crafting this bill and been very supportive of the general efforts that we have tried to make in this bill, and it is a pleasure to work with him. I also wish to express my deep appreciation to the gentleman from California [Mr. Fazio] who is the former chairman of this subcommittee, but also the former ranking member. He has been a great help over the years in this bill, and I wish to thank him for his cooperation. Under leave I have already obtained, I would like to insert a tabulation of the amounts in the bill: [[Page H7173]] [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH10JY96.000 [[Page H7174]] [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH10JY96.001 [[Page H7175]] [GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TH10JY96.002 [[Page H7176]] Mr. PACKARD. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time. Mr. THORNTON. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, let me begin by saying how much I have enjoyed the privilege of working with the gentleman from California, the distinguished chairman of the subcommittee. It has truly been a bipartisan effort. We have tackled a difficult task, and we have come through it with a very austere recommendation which we bring to the floor of the House in the form of the legislative appropriation bill. If every other agency in Government as the chairman said, had done the same degree of cutting that the legislative branch has done, we would have a Federal budget surplus today in the United States. This effort did begin under the chairmanship of my colleague from California, Mr. Fazio, who in 1992 instituted a program for the reduction of FTE's for the legislative branch. As a result of continuing that policy under the chairmanship of the gentleman from California [Mr. Packard], we have reduced more than 5,500 employees from the Federal legislative branch of Government. I also want to join my colleague, the gentleman from California [Mr. Packard], in opposing a further across-the-board cut of 1.9 percent. Such a cut would decimate many of the activities of the legislative branch, and the legislative branch of Government has serious responsibilities of oversight to check and balance the operations of the executive branch and of the judicial branch. I urge all of my colleagues to join me in opposing this amendment when it comes before the House. Mr. Chairman, this is an exemplary bill. It is not a perfect bill. We have cut areas where I personally would rather have not seen us cut. I was very saddened last year when the Office of Technology Assessment, which was instituted under the Presidency of Richard Nixon and supported for all the years in between, was brought to an end. But it was one of the cuts that had to be made in order to bring the legislative branch to this meeting today having already accomplished its entire goal in 2 years of reductions needed to reach a balanced budget in 7 years. I commend the subcommittee, the full Committee on Appropriations, for their work. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time. Mr. PACKARD. Mr. Chairman, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Florida [Mr. Miller] who serves on the subcommittee. Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in strong support of this appropriation bill. It has been a pleasure to serve on this particular subcommittee because we have accomplished what our goals have been, which are reducing the size and scope of the Government and reducing th

Referenced legislation: HR26, HRES473, HR3754