[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 34 (Monday, March 17, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2342-S2343]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        DAILY DIGEST TURNS FIFTY

  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, today, we reach another milestone in the 
Senate's continually unfolding history. Let us pause for a minute to 
reflect on a fiftieth anniversary of great institutional significance.
  On March 17, 1947, for the first time, the Congressional Record 
carried a section under the modest heading ``Daily Digest.''
  Fiftieth anniversary? Has not the Congressional Record been in 
existence since March 4, 1873? By my reckoning, that adds up to 124 
years, not fifty! Is it possible that there was ever a Congressional 
Record without a Daily Digest? Those of us who pick up the Record each 
morning and instinctively turn to the Daily Digest might find that 
difficult to believe. No one who regularly consults the Congressional 
Record could reasonably doubt the Daily Digest's value as the 
indispensable point of entry for a bulky compendium that often runs to 
hundreds and hundreds of closely printed, three-columned pages.
  By the mid-1940's the Record had become so thick that without some 
sort of daily finding aid, it was becoming practically unusable. 
Several commercial firms sought to remedy the situation. In 1943 the 
U.S. Chamber of Commerce hired Dr. Floyd Riddick, a highly regarded 
specialist in congressional procedure, to edit a new publication 
entitled Legislative Daily. The Daily's instant popularity caught the 
attention of congressional reformers in the final months of World War 
II. Desiring to expand public access to the record of Senate and House 
deliberations, they included in the Legislative Reorganization Act of 
1946 a provision for a Congressional Record Daily Digest. This new 
section would outline chamber and committee activities for the previous 
day and present a schedule of the current day's legislative program, 
including a list of committee meetings and hearings. The statute 
directed the Secretary of the Senate and Clerk of the House to oversee 
Digest preparation for their respective chambers.
  Fortunately for the Senate, Dr. Riddick agreed to serve as Senate 
Digest editor. Starting the Digest was no easy task. Overburdened 
committee clerks initially resisted taking the additional notes for 
Digest citations. Getting accurate information at the committee level 
was particularly important, for in those distant days, once a

[[Page S2343]]

measure cleared a committee it was pretty much in shape for final 
passage. Times have changed! Thanks to Dr. Riddick's persistence and 
expertise, the Digest that he established remains virtually intact a 
half-century later.
  Floyd Riddick served as Senate editor from 1947 to 1952, when he 
moved to the newly created post of Assistant Senate Parliamentarian. He 
subsequently served as Senate Parliamentarian from 1964 until his 
formal retirement a decade later. I say ``formal,'' because Dr. Riddick 
remained with the Senate on an unsalaried basis to prepare a history of 
the Committee on Rules and Administration and, most importantly, to 
revise the indispensable volume that now bears the title Riddick's 
Senate Procedure. Today, Dr. Riddick continues a productive retirement 
in South Carolina.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that a list of the Daily 
Digest's Senate editors be inserted in the Record following this 
statement.
  There being no objection, the list was ordered to be printed in the 
Record as follows:

                      Daily Digest Senate Editors

       Floyd M. Riddick, 1947-1952.
       Fred Green, 1952-1969.
       Dwight Galt, 1969-1979.
       Mary Ann Dubs, 1979-1980.
       Jim Timberlake, 1980-1988.
       Thomas Pellikaan, 1989-present.

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