pages are greater in a second session of Congress, and they fluctuate, the first session lower, second session back up. The number of pages has been as low as 35,000 up to a high of 51,000, which we had in 1972. That is the highest year that I have on my chart. In the past several years the Congressional Record has ranged between forty-four, forty, forty-three, thirty-five thousand pages. It is purely predicated on the number of days that Congress is going to be in session. If we knew in advance the number of days you were going to be in session, we could come very close to a total estimate by using the average number of pages we print every day. Last year we averaged 220 pages per daily issue of the Congressional Record. Mr. BENJAMIN. I am going to submit several questions for response on the record. And before going into Printing and Binding, I will yield to Mr. Smith for any questions he may have on Congressional Printing and Binding. [The information follows:] Question. Note increase and decreases in various categories. Explain. (A) Congressional Record: 1979, 40,000 pages, $4.3 million. (B) Miscellaneous publications: 1979, 60,500 pages, $5.3 million. (C) Miscellaneous printing and binding: (D) Details to Congress: 1979, $5.4 million. 1980, $5.5 million. (F) Franked envelopes and document franks: 1979, 57 million envelopes, 7 million franks, $1.0 million. 1980, 60 million envelopes, 6.5 million franks, $1.1 million. (G) House and Senate committee and business calendars: 1979, 52,000 pages, $2.3 million. 1980, 55,500 pages, $2.6 million. (H) Bills, resolutions, and amendments: 1979, 166,000 pages, $9.9 million. (I) Committee reports: 1979, 45,000 pages, $3.9 million. 1980, 45,000 pages, $4.2 million. (J) Documents: 1979, 28,000 pages, $1.9 million. (K) Hearings: 1979, 578,000 pages, $23.7 million. 1980, 550,000 pages, $23.2 million. Response. In estimating the funds necessary, volume estimates are made for each category of work based on past experiences. Rates are estimated on the basis of our latest experience with projections of future increases due to rising costs. Rate increases are due to an estimated labor cost increase of 7 percent and 10 percent increase in material cost. Certain of these categories do not reflect the full increase due to automation and improved work methods. Savings for productivity increases and changing work methods are applied when appropriate. The following is an explanation of the various increases and decreases between FY 1979 and FY 1980 by categories: A. Congressional Record has a 4,000 page and $.55 per page rate increase for a net increase of $.4 million. The record normally increases in volume during the 2d Session. B. Miscellaneous Publications has a 1,500 page decrease and a $7.63 per page rate increase with the net effect of $.4 million increase. This category normally declines in volume during the 2d Session. C. Miscellaneous Printing and Binding has a $2.70 per copy rate increase with a net effect of $.5 million increase. The volume of this category is expected to remain the same as the previous year. D. Details to Congress reflect labor increases only as volume is expected to remain the same as the previous year. F. Franked Envelopes reflect a 3,000 unit increase in volume and a $1.11 rate increase for a net effect of a $100,000 increase. Document Franks will decrease slightly in volume and the rate will increase by $.84 per 1,000. G. Committee and Business Calendars indicate a 3,000 page increase and a rate increase of $3.18 per page for a total of $300,000 increase. Calendars increase in volume in the 2d Session because in many cases they are cumulative. H. Bills, Resolutions and Amendments are anticipated to increase by 4,000 pages with a $3.59 per page rate increase for a net effect of a $800,000 increase. This category is generally heavier in volume in the 2d Session and we have projected some savings due to new technological changes. I. Committee Reports will have a rate increase of $6.24 per page for a total increase of $300,000. There is no anticipated volume increase. J. Documents volume is anticipated to decrease by 3,000 pages and the rate will increase by $3.64 per page for a net effect of a decrease of $200,000. The trend for this category is to decline in volume in the 2d Session. K. Hearings are anticipated to decrease by 28,000 pages with a $1.32 per page rate increase. The net effect will be a reduction of $500,000. This category normally declines in the 2d Session. Question. Is the volume of binding of hearings, debates, and so forth for the House and Senate increasing? Will you update the tables on page 219 of last year's hearings to show the increase or decrease? Response. SUMMARY OF PUBLICATIONS BOUND FOR HOUSE COMMITTEES-FISCAL YEAR 1978 1 A summary of work ordered during fiscal year 1978, through the Office of the Clerk of the House for Members and billed to the congressional printing and binding appropriation. SUMMARY OF PUBLICATIONS BOUND FOR SENATE COMMITTEES-FISCAL YEAR 1978 A summary of work ordered during fiscal year 1978, through the Office of the Secretary of the Senate for Members and billed to the congressional printing and binding appropriation. Question. How many of House Appropriations hearings did you publish in 1978 and was that more or less than in 1977? What percentage of all House hearings does House Appropriations hearings constitute (in pages)? Response. In 1978 there were 81,582 pages of House Appropriations hearings printed. This compares with 76,944 printed in 1977. House Appropriations hearings are approximately 21 percent of all House hearings, of which 390,748 pages were printed in Fiscal Year 1978. Question. Last year, we placed language in the bill restricting the distribution of bound and biweekly Congressional Records. What savings do you expect in the 1980 budget as a result? Why are you asking for the same language again-we have already made it permanent law? RESTRICTION OF CERTAIN PUBLICATIONS Response. We are unable to estimate the savings pertaining to the restricted distribution of the bound and biweekly Congressional Records until the Joint Committee on Printing receives the results from a recent survey of the Members. As soon as the results are known we will be able to estimate the reduction in volume and the corresponding reduction in the Fiscal Year 1980 Budget request. In response to why we included the restriction in the 1980 language, we were merely attempting to emphasize the Appropriation Committee's position regarding the bound and biweekly Congressional Records. STATUS OF GPO FACILITIES Mr. SMITH. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am new on this subcommittee, and I am not sure if the Chairman knows the answer, but a good many of us in the House don't. Are your facilities archaic down there, or why can't you get faster service? Mr. BOYLE. Well, Mr. Smith, our equipment is not archaic. The building is. Mr. SMITH. But your equipment is not? Mr. BOYLE. I would say, and I am proud to say, that we have as modern, if not a more modern, printing operation than any other printing plant in the country for doing the type of work that we do. Mr. SMITH. Why does it take so long to get service? PRINTING OF BILLS Mr. BOYLE. I didn't know it took long. We are pretty proud of the quick turnaround we have. Mr. SMITH. Sometimes it takes three or four days to get a bill printed. Mr. BOYLE. That could be, according to the time of the year. Mr. Smith, right now all of our introduced bills are delivered on an overnight basis. Starting in the beginning of a Congress, we get hit with every single bill that- Mr. SMITH. That is not as important. But when you get to the last days of the Congress, you have to have them overnight or it is dead. Mr. BOYLE. In the first few days of Congress we receive thousands of bills, and this year, we printed all of the bills that were introduced faster than ever. Mr. SMITH. That is not as important. When you get to the last days of the Congress, it has to be printed overnight or that bill is dead. Mr. BOYLE. Let me say that in the last days of the Congress we were totally swamped. We had hundreds of amendments submitted for overnight printing on one bill alone. We get deluged with bills in the beginning of a session and we are totally swamped in the end of the session. There is no way possible any printing plant in the country or all the printing plants on the East Coast could keep up with the last two weeks of Congress on an overnight schedule. I believe we do quite well under the circumstances. CONTRACTING OUT OF BILLS Mr. SMITH. During that period of time would you be better off contracting some, or would that be an impossible thing, too? Mr. BOYLE. Contracting is not very practical on very short scheduled work. Contracting is more practical when we have the time to write a specification, put the contract out on bid, get a contractor to do it in a reasonable amount of time. Overnight is not a reasonable schedule in the printing industry. Mr. SMITH. You don't set print down there? Mr. BOYLE. Set type? Mr. SMITH. Yes. Mr. BOYLE. We have the largest typesetting operation in the world. ERRORS IN BILLS Mr. SMITH. I sent a bill down there, and it came back and had 12 errors. I marked them and sent it back down. This is a committee bill reported out of the full committee. I sent it back down there; those 12 were corrected, and there were 18 new ones. How can you make mistakes like that? Mr. BOYLE. Anytime there is only one proofreading, and they are reading at two, three, four or five o'clock in the morning and have been working 10 hours a day; they are bound to miss some errors. There isn't any publication in the United States that can be printed error-free with one proofreading. Mr. SMITH. How do you make errors where they were not before? Mr. BOYLE. In linotype-type material, where the error was marked, the operator set the line over and made another error in the line. With our present method of electronic photocomposition the operator does not have to set the line over. The operator will only set the correction and Mr. SMITH. When did you get that equipment? Mr. BOYLE. We have been working with that equipment for several years. This year for the first time all bills in the House and the Senate will go through this system. It will help that problem. Mr. SMITH. This, I think, was last year when it happened. It makes an impossible situation on the floor, because when you have 18 errors to correct, anybody who wants to hold up a bill in the last month of the Congress can require you to make 18 amendments on the floor, and it is impossible. We can't operate around here that way. Mr. BOYLE. It makes problems in our operation, too, because any time there are 18 errors or one error in the bill, the bill has to be reprinted, and if each time we print it, we make more errors, we are never going to get finished. 35-533 796 (Pt. 2) |