Date: Mon, 30 Jan 1995 09:16:15 -0500 (EST) From: James McDonough Subject: EPIN Summary ********************************************************** SUMMARY OF ELECTRONIC PUBLIC INFORMATION NEWSLETTER VOL. 5, NO. 2; January 27, 1995 ********************************************************** INDEX: 1. SENATE-HOUSE CLASH OVER DEVELOPMENT OF THOMAS 2. NEW MOVES ON CAPITOL HILL THREATEN GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 3. GINGRICH SEES `INFORMATION AGE' AS VITAL TO DEMOCRACY **************************************************************** For more information on the complete ELECTRONIC PUBLIC INFORMATION NEWSLETTER or to receive a FREE sample of the complete printed copy send an email message to EPIN Publishing at epin@access.digex.net. Include your snail mail address. ***************************************************************** 1. SENATE-HOUSE CLASH OVER DEVELOPMENT OF THOMAS: The Senate is not participating in THOMAS--the free congressional online information service=FE-because of its potential conflict with the GPO Access system and because the House leadership apparently mounted the whole program without collaboration and invited the Senate to participate only at the press conference called to announce the new service. Sen. Ted Stevens, Chairman of the Senate Rules Committee, is a co-sponsor along with Sen. Wendell Ford, D-KY, of the bill creating the GPO Access system within the Government Printing Office (GPO). They are concerned about the impact of THOMAS on GPO Access, part of which consists of an online govenment information system. "They (the House) did not look on aspects of what the GPO access bill did, they were just putting demands on GPO to feed information and that type of thing. That is no way to start off on any cooperative venture. You know we put a lot of resources into that legislation (GPO Access), and for someone to come in and undermine that (GPO Access) was not the way to go about it," a Senate source said last week. 2. NEW MOVES ON CAPITOL HILL THREATEN GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: In a surprise move, the Subcommittees on Legislative Branch of the House and Senate Appropriations Committee announced last week that joint hearings will be held on Thursday (2/2) on "Downsizing Legislative Branch Support Agencies." Invited to testify, among others, are Danford Sawyer, a former Public Printer and now a television executive, and Tim Sprehe, an information industry specialist and a former official of the OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs during the Reagan Administration. Public Printer Michael DiMario has not been invited to testify, although it is apparent Government Printing Office (GPO) will be one of the support agencies under discussion. Also a member of the Ways and Means Committee is reported to be preparing legislation to eliminate GPO to pay for a cut in the airlines fuel tax.=20 3. GINGRICH SEES `INFORMATION AGE' AS VITAL TO DEMOCRACY: House Speaker Newt Gingrich sees the Internet and the coming "information age" as central to the development of American democracy. In a speech two weeks (1/10) ago before the Progress and Freedom Foundation in Washington, D.C., Gingrich promised the American people a "new partnership," which "fits the information age and the Internet." Gingrich said, "The new partnership has to involve radically higher understanding of the potential of the information age than we have today." Then referring to his own congressional district in Georgia, the Speaker added, "It is impossible to have an Athenian democracy with 600,000 persons in the oral tradition."=20 *************************************************************** ARCHIVE: EPIN Summaries are being archived on the Electronic Frontier Foundation system. To access past summaries, use the following addresses: =20 ftp.eff.org, /pub/Publications/E-journals/EPIN gopher.eff.org. 1/Publications/E-journals/EPIN gopher (HTML), gopher.eff.org, /hh/Publications/E-journals/EPIN http: //www.eff.org/pub/Publications/E-journals/EPIN =20 ***************************************************************** James McDonough, Editor Electronic Public Information Newsletter epin@access.digex.net; Tel:/Fax: (301) 365-3621