[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 28 (Monday, March 16, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S2000]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               INCONGRESS

 Mr. CLELAND. Mr. President, I would like to call my 
colleagues' attention to an article which appeared in the Washington 
Post on January 27, 1998 entitled ``Web Venture Links Lobbies, 
Legislation.'' The article discusses INCONGRESS (www.incongress.com), 
an exciting new Web site that promises to open up our legislative 
process and make it possible for our constituents to have access to the 
same documents that we receive from lobbyists.
  INCONGRESS enables interest groups that lobby the Congress to put 
their policy statements and press releases--on issues and legislation 
before the Congress--on one single Web site in an organized and 
targeted manner. This information is maintained in the INCONGRESS data 
base so that it can be retrieved at any time by our staffs or any other 
user of the site, including our constituents.
  Personal subscriptions to INCONGRESS are free for Members of Congress 
and their staffs, as well as for all other government employees, the 
media and members of the general public. The INCONGRESS Web site is 
supported entirely by the private sector lobbyists who pay an annual 
fee to transmit their data from personal computers in their offices 
right into the site.
  INCONGRESS enables all of us, both here in Washington as well as our 
constituents back home, to see the position papers of lobbyists and 
interest groups at the same time. The information is retrievable seven 
days a week, 24 hours a day to any subscriber. This is a major step 
toward our goal of making the legislative process a more open and 
informed one.
  My reasons for calling this matter to the attention of my colleagues 
are twofold. First, INCONGRESS promises to make a great contribution in 
our access to information and differing viewpoints of pending 
legislation. It will enable all of us to see the same information at 
the same time--assuming the interest groups use it, and as the article 
mentions, several of them have apparently already begun to do so.
  Secondly, I am proud to point out to my colleagues something which 
the Washington Post article did not mention. The INCONGRESS Web site 
was designed and constructed in my home state of Georgia by IBM 
Interactive Media in Atlanta. As many of you know, IBM is quickly 
emerging as the leader in electronic business--or e-business as some 
refer to it--and I am proud that the men and women at IBM Interactive 
Media in Atlanta are playing such a major role in this effort.
  In addition, I want to observe that two great Georgia companies, 
AFLAC, Inc. of Columbus and Bell South of Atlanta, were among the first 
companies to sign up as INCONGRESS Advocates and agree to put their 
public policy positions on this Web site for all to see. I commend both 
of these fine companies for being good corporate citizens and for 
setting an example which I hope all interest groups--including 
corporations, trade associations, and unions--will soon follow.
  The text of the article follows:

               [From the Washington Post, Jan. 27, 1998]

                 Web Venture Links Lobbies, Legislation

                          (By Bill McAllister)

       Some of Washington's biggest lobbyists are betting that the 
     future of lobbying may lie on the Internet. They have 
     invested in InCongress, a new Web site that its creators say 
     may presage the electronic way to lobbying Capitol Hill.
       The new site www.incongress.com has been under development 
     for two years, but it will be getting its first full-scale 
     test this week as Congress reconvenes. The site brings 
     together the texts of proposed legislation and the policy 
     positions that various interests have issued on the 
     proposals, as well as links to congressional and governmental 
     sites.
       Although Congress and other groups have their own Web sites 
     with some of the same information, InCongress developers say 
     their operation is the only one that brings all the 
     information together at a single site.
       ``Congress couldn't have created this site and turned it 
     over to Gucci Gulch lobbyists,'' said developer DeLancy W. 
     Davis, a vice president of the lobby shop Jolly/Rissler Inc. 
     Davis and lobbyist Thomas R. Jolly, who started InCongress as 
     a separate venture from Jolly/Rissler, said they have gotten 
     a highly favorable response from hundreds of congressional 
     aides who want a quick way to tell the boss where all the 
     players stand on legislation.
       A number of other online information services provide 
     updated copies of pending legislation, and other groups are 
     attempting to cash in on the move toward feeding Washington's 
     booming special interest business electronically.
       Jolly and Davis's InForum Group, which owns the site, 
     already has signed up several interest groups eager to post 
     their policy papers on the site and pay the reduced 
     introductory fee of $6,000 to be among InCongress's charter 
     ``advocates.'' Those charter advocates include lobbyists and 
     other officials from Arco, AFLAC, BellSouth, IBM Corp., the 
     Interstate Natural Gas Association, the Mortgage Bankers 
     Association, the Career Colleges Association and the 
     Reinsurance Association.
       But perhaps as impressive as the first clients are the 
     lobbyists who are financially backing the venture: William H. 
     Cable, chairman of Timmons & Co.; Nicholas E. Calio of 
     O'Brien Calio; Thomas J. Corcoran of O'Connor and Hannan; 
     Patricia F. Rissler, president of Jolly/Rissler Inc.; Thomas 
     M. Ryan of Oldaker, Ryan, Philips & Utrecht; and Craig G. 
     Veith, managing director of American Strategies.
       The public can get free access to the site by filling out a 
     sign-up form, but lobbyists who wish to post their position 
     papers have to pay. Jolly and Davis are betting that there 
     are enough of them to make their site profitable, although 
     perhaps not in the first year.
       The site is run by a contractor based in Schaumburg, Ill. 
     InCongress's meat and potatoes, such as new legislation, is 
     pulled down from government-operated sites. Lobbyists can 
     post their views using a simple transfer mechanism.
       ``It's a great way to level the playing field,'' said 
     Jolly, previously an aide to former Rep. Bill Ford (D-Mich.), 
     who predicts the site could have strong appeal to small 
     groups who often feel undermanned on Capitol Hill.
       The online venture, along with others, is another step 
     toward moving many aspects of lobbying and government onto 
     the Internet to meet the changing nature of the process of 
     government, Jolly and Davis said.
       ``Our profession is fundamentally changing. We're moving 
     toward a much more antiseptic, more fact-based type of 
     lobbying,'' Davis said. ``The days of going to a chairman and 
     cutting a deal are over.'' 

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