[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 104 (Tuesday, July 16, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1287]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

[[Page E1287]]


     RESPECTING THE FINE SERVICE OF THE GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JOHN D. DINGELL

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 16, 1996

  Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Speaker, the amendment to cut 100 additional 
employees from the U.S. Government Printing Office, offered and 
accepted during debate last week on the Legislative Appropriations 
bill, was an impulsive and arbitrary maneuver with no focus whatsoever 
on the quality of services rendered by this public service agency.
  The amendment was another example of legislating in haste with 
uncertain results, which failed to take into account the tremendous 
record of personnel reductions that has occurred at GPO. In the past 20 
years, GPO has reduced the number of its employees by more than half, 
from 8,000 in 1976, to 3,800 today. Last year, the House voted for 
additional reductions and the Appropriations Committee recommended a 
cut of 50 full-time employees for fiscal year 1997.
  This work force reduction was accomplished by efforts of not just 
Congress, but also the GPO leadership, to bring the agency into the 
modern world of communications, and they have succeeded in doing that 
through a transition to electronic technologies while maintaining the 
traditional quality of printed Government documents.
  I want to commend GPO's employees for their hard work and dedication 
to their jobs, which includes making this body run in a sound and 
effective manner. Without GPO, the nearly instantaneous transmission 
and publication of the Congressional Record and other vital documents 
could not be relied upon in an institution where swift access to 
information is crucial.
  The amendment approved last week is not the result of any careful 
study or performance review. Rather, it is one of those across-the-
board types of reductions we have seen offered by the majority party 
for a number of years to make more difficult the delivery of taxpayer-
paid Government services.
  Mr. Speaker, GPO has taken steps to keep up with the ever-changing 
nature of the information age and has done so in a cost-effective way. 
It should be given the necessary discretion to continue to implement 
needed management changes, including a reduction in unnecessary or 
duplicative employee positions as they occur, without interference by 
those who would rather enact arbitrary and across-the-board cuts. I 
commend the dedicated work of our GPO employees, and believe my 
colleagues would do the same when they come to know of the fine service 
they deliver.

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