[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 142 (Tuesday, September 9, 2008)]
[House]
[Pages H7896-H7897]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




PROVIDING HOUSE EMPLOYEES WITH OPTION OF RECEIVING ELECTRONIC PAY STUBS

  Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules 
and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 1207) directing the Chief 
Administrative Officer of the House of Representatives to provide 
individuals whose pay is disbursed by the Chief Administrative Officer 
by electronic funds transfer with the option of receiving receipts of 
pay and withholdings electronically, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
  The text of the resolution is as follows:

                              H. Res. 1207

       Resolved,

     SECTION 1. PROVIDING INDIVIDUALS PAID BY CHIEF ADMINISTRATIVE 
                   OFFICER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES WITH 
                   THE OPTION OF RECEIVING RECEIPTS OF PAY 
                   ELECTRONICALLY.

       (a) In General.--The Chief Administrative Officer of the 
     House of Representatives shall take such steps as may be 
     necessary to provide each individual whose pay is disbursed 
     by the Chief Administrative Officer by electronic funds 
     transfer with the option of receiving the receipt of the pay 
     and the accompanying withholdings electronically, the option 
     of viewing electronically the individual's employee statement 
     required under section 6051 of the Internal Revenue Code of 
     1986, and the option of revising electronically (to the 
     extent permitted under applicable law and regulations) the 
     individual's number of deductions and withholdings under that 
     statement and information relating to the deposit of the 
     individual's funds with the financial institution to which 
     the electronic funds transfer is made.
       (b) Electronic Funds Transfer Defined.--In subsection (a), 
     the term ``electronic funds transfer'' has the meaning given 
     such term by section 3332 of title 31, United States Code.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Brady) and the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Ehlers) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Pennsylvania.


                             General Leave

  Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I ask that all Members have 5 
legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks in the 
Record on this bill.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania. I yield myself as much time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, this resolution is a commonsense step in modernization 
of our pay system. It would offer Members and staff the option, not the 
requirement, of receiving their pay stubs electronically. It would also 
make W-2 forms available electronically and allow individuals to change 
the deductions and withholdings, and to electronically redesignate the 
depository institutions for their electronic deposits.
  Not only will this simplify pay records for Members and staff, it 
will reduce paper waste to support the Speaker's Green the Capitol 
Initiative.
  This resolution has strong bipartisan support. Once it has been 
adopted in the House, and the committee will work with the CAO to 
ensure a smooth transition.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. EHLERS. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H. Res. 1207, 
which would enable House staff to receive their pay stubs 
electronically and encourages the CAO to make further technological 
improvements that would enable employees to make changes in 
withholding, deductions or deposits electronically.
  Increasingly, individuals are using technology to keep track of their 
financial information, and putting key data such as compensation 
information online will assist many in their efforts to keep track of 
their finances.
  With the impact of junk mail, paper bills and other items delivered 
via postal mail, reducing the amount of wasted paper, even by a single 
item each month, would be good for the environment and likely will be a 
welcome change for many employees.

                              {time}  1530

  In this spirit of developing online tools for House staff, I also 
introduced an amendment to this bill that would direct the CAO to allow 
employees to make changes in withholdings, deductions, or deposits 
electronically. Not only would this service be of great use to 
employees, but it would also lessen the burden on payroll counselors 
who currently make these types of routine adjustments manually, which 
would in turn free them up to handle more complex questions that are 
not suited to a self-service model.
  I am pleased that the committee voted unanimously to accept the 
amendment. I thank the chairman for his leadership in bringing this 
bill to the floor. I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of H. Res. 
1207.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my 
time.
  Mr. EHLERS. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield such time as she may 
consume to the gentlelady from North Carolina (Ms. Foxx).
  Ms. FOXX. I would like to thank Chairman Brady, Ranking Member Ehlers 
for bringing this bill to the floor and for their kind comments. What 
they have said is what we are attempting to do, which is to bring an 
important innovative and needed resolution to the House for 
consideration. I would also like to thank Alec Hoppes of the Committee 
on House Administration for working with my staff to bring this bill 
forward. A separate thank you to Mr. Ehlers for offering his amendment 
which makes the bill an even better bill by including additional 
services to be made available to House employees.
  While many private companies, corporations, and State governments 
like Florida, Idaho, Kentucky, South Dakota, and Nebraska give the 
option of accessing employee pay stubs electronically, e-stubs, the 
U.S. House of Representatives does not. Safer than receiving pay stubs 
by snail mail, electronically accessing pay stubs saves money and an 
immeasurable amount of paper.
  H. Res. 1207 would simply direct the Chief Administrative Officer of 
the House of Representatives to take the steps necessary to provide 
House Members, their staff, committee staff, legislative counsel, 
Sergeant at Arms employees, and all other employees whose pay is 
disbursed by the Chief Administrative Officer of the House the option 
of accessing their pay stub electronically.
  Moving forward with technological advances means going paperless with 
pay stubs as so many employers have already done. I urge my colleagues 
in

[[Page H7897]]

supporting this nonpartisan sensible resolution and join with me in 
choosing to access our pay stubs electronically, and I ask my 
colleagues to vote for the bill.
  Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania. I would also like to thank the gentlelady 
from North Carolina for a very sensible bill.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. EHLERS. Mr. Speaker, I have no further comments on the bill, but 
I do have further comments to make.
  In particular, all of us have spent 5 weeks or thereabouts home with 
our constituents and were impressed at how seriously our constituents 
and the Nation is taking the energy crisis that we face. There is a 
huge concern about this, particularly with the cost of gasoline.
  In one example, a young woman in my district lives on a farm. It's 
hard today to make a living on a farm, and so she has a job off the 
farm as well. Their only vehicle is a pickup with, of course, very poor 
gas mileage. And she's faced with a position where the cost of driving 
to work is almost greater than the pay that she receives. This is one 
small example, and I believe that it is absolutely urgent for the House 
of Representatives to address this issue.
  There are several bills out there regarding the energy crisis. 
There's been a lot of discussion about it. I think the only way I can 
summarize it after looking at the various bills is to say, what we 
really need is all of the above. Some members are focused totally on 
drilling, some are totally focused on alternative forms of energy, some 
on conservation. But what we really need is a comprehensive bill which 
addresses all of the above, because we are in a situation where we 
cannot depend on oil for very many more years.
  Back in 1954 scientists predicted that by 1970, American oil 
production would peak, and they were right on the mark. In 1970, 
American oil production peaked. It's been going down ever since.
  That same research projected that in about 2005, or 2010, world oil 
production would peak, and it looks like we've entered that period, and 
that's one reason why prices are going up.
  We clearly have to develop the resources we have in this country. We 
clearly have to develop alternative forms of energy, particularly 
related to solar. An incredible amount of solar energy hits the Earth 
every day from the sun, to the point that in one year we get more 
energy from the sunlight hitting our planet than is contained in all of 
the resources of energy and the fossil fuels that are in the Earth.
  So clearly there are ways to address this. We must address this. I 
just want to speak out and say it's absolutely essential for us to 
develop new approaches to energy. We certainly ought to put the money 
into developing alternative forms of energy. We have to put the money 
into developing drilling techniques that are safe, environmentally 
safe, and are not going to pollute the waters if they are offshore. We 
really have to take this seriously.
  And I think it's reached the point where we can't just throw 
spitballs or snowballs at each other, but must simply say that we have 
to do all of the above approaches to energy production, and develop 
legislation that does that. I am concerned that the legislation being 
proposed by the leadership of the House will not do all of the above. 
It will only do part of it.
  So I urge all of the Members to work together to really solve this 
problem and show the people of this country that we can deal with an 
important problem like this. And it's my pleasure to raise this issue, 
and we will continue discussions on that in the House.
  As we know, the minority party discussed it every day in the House 
during the recent recess, out of a sense of disappointment that we had 
taken the August recess without first dealing with the energy bills 
that were available for us to consider. We should carry that on and 
make sure that we do address this issue, especially before we adjourn 
for the next recess.
  I thank the group here for listening, and I hope this will result in 
some action on the part of the House of Representatives.
  I don't believe I have any further speakers, and if the gentleman 
from Pennsylvania doesn't, I will, at this point, yield back the 
balance of my time.
  Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, again, I thank the gentlelady 
for her very responsive bill, and I thank the gentleman from Michigan 
for his remarks even though it had nothing at all to do with this bill 
whatsoever.
  And, Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members to support this resolution.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Brady) that the House suspend the 
rules and agree to the resolution, H. Res. 1207, as amended.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mr. EHLERS. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a 
quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not 
present.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be 
postponed.
  The point of no quorum is considered withdrawn.

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