[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 177 (Wednesday, December 19, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2336-E2337]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          EXPRESSING THANKS TO THE GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. STENY H. HOYER

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, December 19, 2001

  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, with my strong support the House recently 
approved resolutions expressing gratitude to the General Accounting 
Office for accommodating the House during the recent closure of the 
House office buildings, and honoring the Capitol Police for their 
commitment to security at the Capitol in the wake of the September 11 
attacks. I wish to bring to the House's attention yet another 
legislative-branch agency that has gone the extra mile to support the 
Congress in this period of crisis: the Government Printing Office.
  We would be remiss in overlooking the GPO's many contributions of the 
last three months. When the presence of anthrax necessitated the 
closure of House and Senate office buildings in October and November, 
GPO was ready to lend a hand. GPO provided conference room and office 
space for personnel from the Office of the Clerk of the House and the 
Senate's Office of Legislative Counsel to continue their important 
operations. For the Capitol Police, GPO made available the loading 
docks in its North Capitol Street warehouse for use in screening 
deliveries to Capitol Hill. Each day, up to 70 trucks destined for the 
Capitol complex pass through this operation, and it has been an 
enormous help to us.
  GPO has provided other help since September 11. For example, when the 
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's regional office was destroyed 
in the collapse of the World Trade Center complex, GPO established a 
secure, password-protected area on their web site, so displaced EEOC 
employees

[[Page E2337]]

could log-on from home or other places and resume the Commission's 
work. Personnel from GPO's Inspector General office even helped with 
recovery efforts at the Pentagon and in New York.
  While GPO has provided support in these extraordinary ways, it has 
also carried on its routine but essential work in printing and 
information dissemination under the leadership of Public Printer 
Michael F. DiMario. GPO's printing operation recently earned accolades 
as the ``Number One In-Plant in the Nation'' from In-Plant Graphics 
magazine, a printing-industry journal, for the fourth consecutive year.
  Mr. Speaker, the past three months have been unlike any in recent 
memory. People are working hard the world over to see that such a 
period never recurs, and to rid the world of terrorism once and for 
all. We are reminded that at times we must meet extraordinary 
challenges in extraordinary ways in order to fulfill our 
responsibilities. As a citizen, and as a Representative in Congress, I 
find it tremendously gratifying to know that we have in the GPO the 
creativity, the capability, and the willingness to keep the wheels of 
our democracy turning on behalf of the American people. I thank the 
dedicated employees of the GPO for doing their part of a job well done.