[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 194 (Tuesday, December 18, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2600]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     TRIBUTE TO ROBERT E. SCHWENK, U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. ROBERT A. BRADY

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, December 18, 2007

  Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, as Chairman of the Joint 
Committee on Printing, I would like to take this opportunity to 
recognize Mr. Robert E. Schwenk, Managing Director of Plant Operations 
at the Government Printing Office, who is retiring next month following 
45 years of dedicated Federal service, most of it at the GPO in support 
of the Congress and Federal agencies.
  Beginning as a GPO apprentice in 1962, Mr. Schwenk rose through the 
ranks to become Managing Director of Plant Operations in 2003. As 
Managing Director, he oversaw the daily operation of GPO's printing 
services, including prepress, press, and binding services, as well as 
the ancillary services supporting them, including supply stores and 
engineering functions. Employing approximately 1,200 skilled men and 
women, these operations are responsible for producing the publications 
that are essential to the legislative operations of this House and the 
Senate in the discharge of our constitutional obligations--the daily 
Congressional Record, bills, reports, hearings, committee prints, and 
the host of other documents created as we conduct the people's 
business. Without them, there would be no publicly accessible record of 
our work, no documentation for the media, judiciary, educational and 
research institutions, and the American people to refer to and rely 
upon as the foundation for our government of laws and democracy. He 
also oversaw production of the daily Federal Register and Code of 
Federal Regulations, the annual Budget of the United States, and other 
significant Federal documents, including U.S. passports.
  One of the many fundamental changes in GPO's printing systems which 
took place during Mr. Schwenk's career was the development of 
congressional and other Federal information databases that could be 
used not only for printing, but for online and other electronic 
dissemination. Since 1986, when Mr. Schwenk was appointed to head GPO's 
electronic photocomposition division, he played a major role in the 
development of GPO's information technology operations, guiding 
successive generations of upgrades to GPO's prepress systems, leading 
the implementation of computer-to-plate technology, and assisting in 
GPO's transition to online dissemination in the 1990's with the 
creation of GPO Access, which quickly became one of the Federal 
Government's largest and most heavily used Web sites. GPO's transition 
to these systems has improved access to congressional information 
immeasurably, and yielded significant savings in congressional printing 
costs.
  Mr. Schwenk's expertise in electronic systems and production 
operations were combined in his most recent achievement at GPO, in 
which he oversaw the implementation of electronic chips in U.S. 
passports and managed the growth in passport production from 
approximately 11 million total in 2003 to more than 2 million each 
month today. When the demand for passports increased exponentially over 
the past year, GPO quietly fulfilled its role, increasing both its 
staffing and productivity to meet the State Department's requirements. 
Mr. Schwenk leaves the GPO with the staffing, equipment, and plans in 
place to meet the future demand for this important document.
  During his career at the GPO, Mr. Schwenk witnessed and participated 
in vast changes in Federal printing operations, as the impact of new 
technologies reduced GPO's staffing needs from its peak of nearly 8,500 
in the mid-1970's to 2,300 today, while at the same time leading to an 
explosion in the access to Government information via the Internet. 
During that period, Mr. Schwenk saw history being made-and helped 
record it for posterity--at the GPO, as that office worked to produce 
the official versions of the Warren Report, historic civil rights and 
other legislation, photographs of the first landing on the moon, 
transcripts of hearings on Vietnam, Watergate, and Iran-Contra, the 
report on the Challenger space shuttle disaster, and many more.
  Next month, he will retire from a long and distinguished career of 
public service. I ask my colleagues to join me in conveying our thanks 
to Mr. Schwenk and best wishes for a healthy and happy retirement.

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