Date: Tue, 28 Feb 1995 09:50:35 -0500 (EST) From: James McDonough Subject: EPIN Summary ********************************************************** SUMMARY OF ELECTRONIC PUBLIC INFORMATION NEWSLETTER VOL. 5, NO. 4; February 24, 1995 ********************************************************** INDEX: 1. HOUSE MOVES TO ELIMINATE THE JOINT COMMITTEE ON PRINTING 2. DIMARIO: CONGRESS SHORT-CHANGES GPO ON PRINTING RATE 3. XEROX'S DOCUTECH IS DRIVING PRINTING DEBATE IN HOUSE **************************************************************** 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. HOUSE MOVES TO ELIMINATE THE JOINT COMMITTEE ON PRINTING: The Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee last week (2/24) approved a recission bill that eliminates all further funding for the Joint Committee on Printing (JCP) for the current fiscal year. The bill provides for part of the funds to be distributed to the House Oversight and Senate Rules Committee to accommodate the remaining JCP staff. The action came after Rep. Bill Thomas, R-CA, Chairman of the House Oversight Committee and the JCP, called for zero funding for the JCP for Fiscal 1996. He was careful to clarify that the decision to elminate the JCP had received the go ahead by House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Thomas had met with Gingrich the night before the hearing, after receiving a letter from all the Senate members of the JCP protesting the Thomas's action. 2. DIMARIO: CONGRESS SHORT-CHANGES GPO ON PRINTING RATE: The Congress is short-changing the Government Printing Office (GPO) and then attacking it for losing money, according to Public Printer Michael DiMario. Testifying last week (2/22) before the House Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee, the Public Printer even said that House Speaker Newt Gingrich insisted that GPO supply THOMAS, the new online congressional information service, with the "Congressional Record" and House and Senate bills for free. Dimario said that by law GPO is suppose to charge costs for the services it provides. Under questioning from Rep. Vic Fazio, D-CA, DiMario said, "I'm required (by law) to charge the cost (of providing THOMAS with the online "Record"), but there was a furor; the House said they wanted it free." DiMario quoted Rep. Bill Thomas, Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, at the THOMAS inauguration as saying "some people even had the audacity to charge for the information." DiMario said he understood that Thomas was talking about GPO. 3. XEROX'S DOCUTECH IS DRIVING PRINTING DEBATE IN HOUSE: The electronic printer, or specifically Xerox Corporation's Docutech, to provide on-demand copies of electronically stored government information was a major "presence" at last week's hearing by the House Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee on the appropriations for the Joint Committee on Printing and the Government Printing Office. Much of the debate before the Subcommittee was on the power of the electronic printer to replace traditional off-set printing and the need to make and store printed copies of documents. Subcommittee Chairman Don Packard, R-CA, although confused about the relationship between the Library of Congress and the federal depository library system, nevertheless knew that the General Service Administration had purchased 30 Docutechs, and that the House has an unused Docutech in the Capitol's basement. *************************************************************** ARCHIVE: EPIN Summaries are being archived on the Electronic Frontier Foundation system. To access past summaries, use the following addresses: 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 ***************************************************************** James McDonough, Editor Electronic Public Information Newsletter epin@access.digex.net; Tel:/Fax: (301) 365-3621