To amend title 44, United States Code, to transfer to the Public Printer the authority over the individuals responsible for preparing indexes of the Congressional Record, and for other purposes.

Madam Speaker, the attached letter should have been submitted for the Record during consideration of H.R. 3229, a bill to amend Title 44, U.S. Code, to transfer authority over the individuals responsible for preparing indexes of the Congressional Record to the Public Printer, on October 7, 2003. Please submit this letter for the Record.

Office of the Public Printer,

Government Printing Office,

Washington, DC, October 1, 2003.

Hon. Robert W. Ney,

Chairman, Joint Committee on Printing, Longworth House Office

Building, Washington, DC.

Attn: Ms. Maria Robinson, JCP Staff Director.

Dear Mr. Chairman: I am transmitting herewith legislative

language to amend section 902 of Title 44, U.S. Code, to

transfer control over the employees of the Congressional

Record Index Office from the Joint Committee on Printing

(JCP) to the Government Printing Office (GPO). The indexers

create the semimonthly and session indexes to the

Congressional Record.

Under current law, which with only minor revisions

antedates GPO's organic legislation, the Printing Act of

1895, the JCP ``shall designate to the Public Printer

competent persons'' to prepare the index and ``shall fix the

compensation to be paid by the Public Printer for that work .

. .'' In addition to appointing the indexers and establishing

their pay, the JCP sets other employment rules, including

rules for promotions and the accumulation and use of leave,

and maintains sole authority to terminate the indexers as at-

will employees and to fill any vacancies. The indexers are

under the congressional retirement system. Their

compensation, benefits, and related office expenses are

charged directly to the Congressional Printing and Binding

Appropriation, included in Title I of the annual Legislative

Branch Appropriations Acts.

The indexers have long been recognized as congressional

employees. However, their work is not directly supervised by

the JCP. Instead, supervision of the indexers has been

provided by a director named by the JCP (the former director

retired in 2001, and since then the indexers have been

supervised by a deputy director with no clear line of

supervision above her). GPO provides administrative support

for the indexers. GPO pays the indexers from the GPO

Revolving Fund (the Fund is reimbursed by the Congressional

Printing and Binding Appropriation) and maintains records on

their employment as indexers. The indexers are housed in

buildings under GPO's control and subject to GPO rules and

regulations regarding security and related matters. GPO

provides equipment for the indexers, and they work on a

day-to-day basis directly with GPO's production staff in

compiling and publishing the Congressional Record Index.

The JCP was able to manage the indexers while the Committee

itself was funded and maintained a professional staff. Since

fiscal year 1999, however, when the JCP was defunded, it has

been unable to manage them. The transfer we are requesting

will relieve the JCP of the administrative burden of managing

a daily production activity that more appropriately belongs

with GPO. At the same time, it will preserve the JCP's

control over the Congressional Record Index itself. Most

importantly, it will correct an anomalous employment

situation. We have taken care to craft legislative language

to accomplish the transfer with a minimal impact on the

Office employees. We have also taken care to ensure that the

transfer will be transparent to the users of the

Congressional Record Index in Congress, throughout the

Government, and among the public. We have briefed the Index

Office employees on this legislative proposal.

Under section 1(a) of the accompanying language, the Public

Printer will continue to be responsible for the production of

the Congressional Record Index in the form and manner

directed by the Joint Committee on Printing, as provided in

current law.

Section 1(b) will amend current law to transfer all of the

employees of the Congressional Record Index office to the

control of the GPO on the effective date of enactment. With

the transfer, the employees will be placed in the civil

service with the GPO and will be covered by the laws and

regulations governing GPO employment. Their contributions and

service time accumulated under retirement systems as

congressional employees will be fully credited. They will

retain their current rates of pay, and their future pay will

be subject to pay systems governing other GPO employees. They

will be allowed to carry accumulated annual and sick leave

with them with subsequent use subject to GPO regulations. The

Congressional Record Index Office will be assigned to the

appropriate GPO organization and subject to GPO management

direction, although any future changes to the form and

production of the Congressional Record Index will be subject

to the review and approval of the JCP. The indexers will

continue to be funded by the Congressional Printing and

Binding Appropriation, so there will be no appropriations

impact. There will be no interruption to their work on the

index; as a result, the effects of the transfer will be

invisible to Congressional Record Index users in Congress,

the Government, and throughout the public.

I respectfully request the Committee's support for this

measure, and would be pleased to provide any additional

information you may need.

Sincerely,

Bruce R. James,

Public Printer.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume, and I thank the chairman for his historical reference.

I am pleased to join with the chairman in support of this legislation to transfer control of the Congressional Record Index Office to the Government Printing Office.

The gentleman has ably explained the bill. The Public Printer, who asked

for this legislation, has submitted a detailed justification that the chairman has included in the Record.

I want to thank the chairman and the Joint Committee on Printing and particularly the gentleman from Ohio (Chairman Ney) for his thorough explanation of the bill, the staff director of our joint committee, Maria Robinson, for her hard work, and my joint committee staff director, who I am pleased to have back, Michael Harrison, for his detailed work on this job.

I would also like to thank the director of the Office of Congressional Affairs at the GPO, Mr. Andrew Sherman, who was so helpful in putting this legislation together, as well as so many other projects.

I am pleased to join the distinguished chairman in support of this legislation to transfer control of the Congressional Record Index Office to the Government Printing Office. The gentleman has ably explained the bill. The Public Printer, who asked for this legislation, has submitted a detailed justification that the chairman will include in the Record.

Suffice it to say that circumstances have changed in recent years, creating a need for the modification recommended in this bill. A law dating back to the mid-19th Century, now codified as Section 902 of Title 44, United States Code, gives the Joint Committee on Printing the duty to appoint and fix the pay of ``competent persons'' to prepare a periodic index to the Congressional Record. In addition to appointing the indexers and fixing their pay, the joint committee for many years actively supervised and directed the indexers' day-to-day work.

The indexers have been treated as congressional employees for leave and retirement purposes. However, unlike other congressional staff, whose pay is disbursed by the Secretary of the Senate or the Chief Administrative Officer of the House, the Public Printer pays the indexers out of the GPO revolving fund, and is reimbursed from the Congress's appropriation for its own printing and binding. The Public Printer provides supplies and equipment for the indexers' use, also on a reimbursable basis. The indexers perform their work on GPO premises, some distance from the Capitol, and naturally their work is closely linked to the production of the Congressional Record itself.

Madam Speaker, if it ever made sense for the Joint Committee on Printing to have the responsibility to appoint the indexers, set their pay, and provide day-to-day supervision for the Index Office, that day ended in 1998 when the 105th Congress chose not to provide further appropriations for the JCP. That decision deprived the JCP of its separate professional staff, which had previously supported the joint committee in the discharge of its responsibilities, including management of the Index Office. Now those responsibilities fall upon our Committee on House Administration and the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, both of which are responsible for many matters in addition to printing. Under these circumstances, it makes sense to transfer the Index Office to the Public Printer, as he has proposed, leaving the JCP to establish policy to guide the Public Printer's exercise of his responsibility.

The bill does that and nothing else. The Public Printer has assured our committee that the transfer's effect on those now employed as indexers will be minimal, and on the thousands who use the index, invisible. For me, this is key. The Congressional Record is a linchpin of Congress's ongoing effort to ``keep America informed,'' which phrase is GPO's slogan. Readers of the Record know it is the Index that makes the Record a truly useful research tool. Congress could not properly keep America informed without the dedicated professionals of the Congressional Record Index Office. It is fitting that upon enactment of this bill, they will join the many dedicated professionals of the GPO.

Madam Speaker, I know of no opposition to this bill, and I urge a ``yes'' vote.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3229) to amend title 44, United States Code, to transfer to the Public Printer the authority over the individuals responsible for preparing indexes of the Congressional Record, and for other purposes.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure to be here today with my colleague, our esteemed ranking member of the Committee on House Administration.

I rise here today in support of H.R. 3229, a bill to amend title 44, United States Code, to transfer to the Public Printer the authority over the individuals responsible for preparing indexes of the Congressional Record. The indexes create the semimonthly and session indexes to the Congressional Record.

Under the Printing Act of 1895, the Joint Committee on Printing, known as JCP, designates to the Public Printer persons to prepare the index and fixes the compensation to be paid by the Public Printer for their work. Their compensation, benefits, and related office expenses are charged directly to the Congressional Printing and Binding Appropriation.

Although the indexers have long been recognized as Congressional employees, their daily work is supervised by the GPO, the Government Printing Office. Therefore, we are here today to make this change to title 44.

GPO provides administrative support for the indexers; pays the indexers from the GPO revolving fund, which is then reimbursed by the Congressional Printing and Binding Appropriation; and maintains employment records for the indexers. The indexers are housed in buildings under GPO's control and subject to GPO's rules and regulations regarding security and other related matters. GPO provides equipment for the indexers, who work on a day-to-day basis directly with GPO's production staff in compiling and publishing the Congressional Record Index.

Prior to 1999, the JCP managed the indexers. However, in 1999 the funding for the JCP ended. The employee transfer that this legislation will provide will relieve the JCP of the administrative burden of managing a daily production activity that more appropriately belongs, frankly, in the Government Printing Office. At the same time, it will preserve the JCP's control over the Congressional Record Index itself, which is important.

Most importantly, however, it will correct an employment situation. The JCP, in conjunction with GPO, has crafted legislative language to accomplish the transfer with minimal impact on office employees. The JCP and the GPO have ensured that despite the transfer accomplished by this legislation, the format and substance of the Congressional Record will remain the same as before, which, of course, is very important to many people in the country.

With the transfer, the employees will be placed in the civil service and will be covered by the laws and regulations covering GPO employment. Their contributions and service time accumulated under retirement systems as Congressional employees will be fully credited. They will retain their current rates of pay and their future pay will be subject to pay systems governing other GPO employees. They will be allowed to carry accumulated annual and sick leave with them, with subsequent use subject to GPO regulations.

The Congressional Record Index Office will be assigned to the appropriate GPO organization, subject to GPO management direction, although any future changes to the form and production of the Congressional Record Index will be subject to the review and approval of the JCP.

The indexers will continue to be funded by the Congressional Printing and Binding Appropriation. This change will not interrupt their work on the index. Consequently, the effects of the transfer will have no impact to Congressional Record Index users in Congress, the government or the public.

As a request from the JCP, the GPO has briefed the Index Office employees on this legislative proposal. No objection was raised to the

Madam Speaker, I want to again thank my colleague, our ranking member, the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Larson), for handling this bill with me on the floor today. This is a very important bill.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 3229, which is at the desk.

I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read the third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any statements relating to the bill be printed in the Record.