[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 167 (Tuesday, November 10, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7906-S7908]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         INTERNET SERVICES AND TECHNOLOGY RESOURCES USAGE RULES

  Mr. BLUNT. Mr. President, I wish to inform all Senators that on 
November 9, 2015, the Committee on Rules and Administration adopted the 
U.S. Senate Internet Services and Technology Resources Usage Rules 
which will supersede and replace the U.S. Senate Internet Services 
Usage Rules and Policies previously adopted in 2008.
  Given the many advances in technology since the last regulations were 
adopted, an update was required to facilitate the use of modern 
communication tools. The new regulations modernize our rules so Senate 
offices can utilize new technologies, such as third-party social 
networking sites and data analytics, to more effectively communicate 
with constituents.
  While in some cases, outmoded restrictions on these technologies have 
been eased, certain restrictions necessarily remain in place including 
prohibitions on campaign content or links on official sites, for 
example. The regulations should be reviewed carefully to see where new 
methods have been authorized as well as what restrictions remain.
  These rules are effective immediately. I hope Senate offices will be 
able to make use of the new technologies and methods they authorize to 
enhance constituent communications.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the rules as 
adopted be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

  U.S. Senate Internet Services and Technology Resources Usage Rules 
  Adopted by the Committee on Rules and Administration on November 9, 
                                  2015


                            1.0  definitions

       For purposes of these Rules, the following terms shall have 
     the meaning specified--
       1.1  Senate Office. Means--
       1.1.1  A Member or Member office;
       1.1.2  A Committee Chair, Committee Ranking Member or 
     Committee office;
       1.1.3  Senate Officers; and
       1.1.4  Leadership Offices.
       1.2  Senate Rules Committee. Means the U.S. Senate 
     Committee on Rules and Administration.
       1.3  Senate Internet Services. Include, but are not limited 
     to, the Senate Computer Network, World Wide Web, electronic 
     mail, blogs, Podcasts, and streaming media used for official 
     purposes.
       1.4  Senate Technology Resources. Include, but are not 
     limited to,--
       1.4.1  Hardware such as servers, computers, laptops, 
     telephones, cell phones, wireless devices, and software that 
     are owned, managed, maintained, leased, or otherwise provided 
     by the U.S. Senate or a Senate office; and

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       1.4.2  Handheld communications devices, including tablet 
     computers, and associated information technology services, 
     including dual use devices that meet the limited exception 
     provided by the Senate Select Committee on Ethics.
       1.5  Official Senate Office Website. Means a website 
     supported by Senate resources and dedicated to official 
     business of the Senate Office.
       1.6  Official Third-Party Website. A Third-Party Website 
     means any website or online application, profile, or channel 
     residing outside of the Senate.gov domain and available to 
     the general public, including but not limited to social media 
     (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, etc.). An Official Third-Party 
     Website is a Third-Party Website that a Senate Office uses 
     for official business pursuant to these rules.
       1.7  Official Website. Means an Official Senate Office 
     Website or Official Third-Party Website.
       1.8  Official Business. Means activities and duties which 
     directly or indirectly pertain to the legislative process or 
     to any congressional representative functions generally, or 
     to the functioning, working, or operating of the Congress and 
     the performance of official duties in connection therewith, 
     and shall include, but not be limited to, the conveying of 
     information to the public, and the requesting and collection 
     of the views of the public (including through surveys, 
     opinion polls, and web data analytics), or the views and 
     information of other governmental entities, as a guide or a 
     means of assistance in the performance of those functions.
       1.9  Campaign Purposes. Include, but are not limited to,--
       1.9.1  Solicitation of political support for the sender or 
     any other person or political party, or a vote or financial 
     assistance for any candidate for any political office; or
       1.9.2  Matter which mentions a Member or a staff member of 
     a Member as a candidate for political office, or which 
     constitutes electioneering, or which advocates the election 
     or defeat of any individuals, or a political party.
       1.10  Commercial Purposes. Include, but are not limited to, 
     direct or indirect pursuit of private commercial business 
     activities or profit-making ventures or advertising therefor, 
     direct or indirect solicitation of funds or the purchase of 
     goods or services, and identification and solicitation of 
     investors or other sources of capital for for-profit 
     enterprises.
       1.11  Fundraising Purposes. Include, but are not limited 
     to, direct or indirect solicitation of funds, pledges or 
     other types of contributions, e.g., for political parties or 
     campaigns, nonprofit or charitable organizations, or disaster 
     or humanitarian relief efforts.
       1.12  Promotional Purposes. Include, but are not limited 
     to, publicizing or advertising a product, organization, 
     institution, or venture so as to increase sales or public 
     awareness.


           2.0  scope, responsibilities, and prohibited uses

       2.1  Official Business Use Only. Use of Senate Internet 
     Services and Senate technology resources is for activities 
     and duties directly connected with the official business of 
     the Senate.
       2.2  Prohibited Uses. Use of Senate Internet Services and 
     Senate technology resources for campaign, fundraising, 
     commercial, or promotional purposes is prohibited, except for 
     authorized ``dual use devices'' which, subject to certain 
     restrictions, may be used for both campaign and official 
     business purposes.
       2.3  Use of Official Websites. Information provided on or 
     through an Official Website must relate to activities and 
     duties directly connected with the official and 
     representational business of the Senate.
       2.4  Oversight of Internet and Information Security. It is 
     the responsibility of each Senate office to oversee the use 
     of Senate Internet Services and Senate technology resources 
     by that office and to ensure their use is consistent with the 
     requirements of these Rules and applicable laws and 
     regulations. The office has sole responsibility for 
     effectively applying and complying with information security 
     guidelines set out by the Senate Sergeant-At-Arms.
       2.5  Decorum Rule. Use of Senate Internet Services and 
     Senate technology resources to impute to another Senator or 
     to other Senators any conduct or motive unworthy or 
     unbecoming a Senator, or to refer offensively to any State of 
     the Union, is prohibited.
       2.6  Personal Use. Senate Internet Services and Senate 
     technology resources are provided for the conduct of official 
     business. Personal use is permitted on a de minimis basis 
     only in a manner that does not supersede or contradict these 
     Rules such as the general rule prohibiting the use of Senate 
     Internet Resources and Senate technology resources for 
     campaign, fundraising, commercial and promotional purposes.


                  3.0  official senate office websites

       3.1  Host Domain. An Official Senate Office Website must be 
     located in the ``senate.gov'' host domain.
       3.2  URL Name. The URL name of an Official Senate Office 
     Website located in the ``senate.gov'' domain is limited to 
     one of the following formulations--
       3.2.1  Member Website. Must contain the Member's last name.
       3.2.2  Committee or Senate Officer Website, including a 
     Committee website maintained by the Committee Chair or the 
     Committee Ranking Member. Must contain the name of the 
     Committee or title of the Senate Officer.
       3.2.3  Leadership Offices. Must contain the name of, or 
     acronym for, the office. For example, the offices of the 
     Senate Majority Leader, Senate Minority Leader, Senate 
     Majority Whip and Senate Minority Whip websites may utilize: 
     Majority Leader, Majority Whip, Minority Leader, Minority 
     Whip, Republican Leader, Republican Whip, Democratic Leader, 
     Democratic Whip, as appropriate, to access the website 
     directly or via a URL redirection. Web domains are to be 
     surrendered in the event of a change in leadership.
       3.3  Task Force, Caucus, and Issue-Oriented Websites. Use 
     of the ``senate.gov'' host domain for task force, caucus, or 
     other issue-oriented websites is prohibited. However, this 
     does not prohibit a Member from referencing such issues or a 
     task force on an Official Website.
       3.4  Senate Staff. Senate staff are prohibited from 
     establishing or maintaining an Official Senate Office Website 
     in their own name in the ``senate.gov'' domain.


        4.0  official third-party websites and official accounts

       4.1  In General. A Senate office may maintain an official 
     account or official public profile for each Official Third-
     Party Website.
       4.2  The Senate Rules Committee maintains a non-exhaustive 
     list of approved sites that have a terms-of-service agreement 
     with the Senate. Use of an Official Third-Party Website not 
     on the approved list may be restricted for security reasons 
     and/or for failure to comply with applicable Senate rules and 
     regulations.
       4.3  An Official Third-Party Website shall identify itself 
     as follows--
       4.3.1  Member. The username, display name, or title of the 
     Member's website must include the title ``U.S. Senator'' or 
     an abbreviation thereof and the Member's last name.
       4.3.2  Committee. The username, display name, or title of 
     the website, including one maintained by the Committee Chair 
     or the Committee Ranking Member, must include the name of the 
     Committee or an abbreviation thereof, but may not include a 
     Member's name.
       4.3.3  Senate Officer. The username, display name, or title 
     of a Senate Officer's website must include the name of the 
     Office or an abbreviation thereof, but may not include the 
     Officer's name.
       4.3.4  Leadership Office. The username, display name, or 
     title of the Leadership Office website must include the name 
     of the Office or an abbreviation thereof.
       4.3.5  Identifying Statement. The website shall display a 
     statement identifying the account or profile as the 
     ``official account of'' the Member, Committee, Leadership 
     Office, or Senate Officer, as applicable.
       4.4  Use of the Senate Seal. Use of any likeness of the 
     Seal of the United States Senate on a non-Senate website or 
     application is prohibited.
       4.5  Security. Use of an Official Third-Party Website 
     determined to pose a possible threat to the security of the 
     Senate computer network shall be discontinued, per the 
     direction of the Senate Rules Committee, until the risk is 
     fully assessed and the risk mitigated to a level acceptable 
     to the Senate Rules Committee.
       4.6  Last Day of a Member's Term. A Member's official 
     account on an Official Third- Party Website cannot be 
     supported by Senate resources beyond the last day of the 
     Member's term. Official Third-Party Websites must be 
     deactivated or converted at the expiration of the term. 
     Converted third-party websites cannot be supported with 
     Senate resources and may no longer be identified as official.


                      5.0  links between websites

       5.1  The following is prohibited--
       5.1.1  Linking or posting from an Official Website to 
     campaign, fundraising, commercial, or promotional sites 
     except as provided for in section 5.3.
       5.1.2  Linking or posting from an Official Website to a 
     Member's campaign or personal website.
       5.1.3  Linking or posting from a campaign website 
     controlled by or under the direction of a Member or group of 
     Members to an Official Website.
       5.2  The following is permitted--
       5.2.1  Linking or posting from an Official Website to 
     another Official Website of the same Member.
       5.2.2  Linking or posting from an Official Website to 
     another Member, Committee, Leadership Office, or Senate 
     Officer's Official Website.
       5.2.3  Linking or posting from a Member's personal website 
     to a Member's Official Website.
       5.2.4  Linking or posting from a Member's Official Website 
     to an official government website, including an official 
     federal, state, or local government site.
       5.3  Linking or posting from an Official Website to non-
     governmental sites (including commercial and promotional 
     sites) only for official business purposes is permitted, 
     provided the Senate office does not endorse, direct, control, 
     support or discourage action by the non-governmental 
     organization by means of the post or link. Links to 
     fundraising or campaign sites do not fit within this 
     exception and are prohibited.


            6.0  special rules for 60-day moratorium period

       6.1  For purposes of this section, the following terms 
     shall have the meaning specified--
       6.1.1  Moratorium period. Means the 60 days immediately 
     preceding the date of any primary or general election 
     (whether regular,

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     special, or runoff) in which the Member is a candidate.
       6.1.2  Uncontested candidate. When the Senate Rules 
     Committee receives written certification from the appropriate 
     state official that the Member's candidacy may not be 
     contested under state law, that candidate is uncontested. A 
     Member running for re-election in a state that permits write-
     in votes for the Member's election shall be considered a 
     contested candidate and is subject to the restrictions in 
     this section.
       6.1.3  Mass communication. Means an electronic 
     communication including, but not limited to, posting to an 
     Official Website, automated telephone calls for events such 
     as Tele-Town Halls, and electronic mail transmission of 
     substantially identical content to 500 or more recipients.
       6.2  During the moratorium period, no Member office may 
     seek constituent input or inquiries (such as online petitions 
     or opinion polls) via a mass communication using Senate 
     Internet Services unless the Member is an uncontested 
     candidate. Nor shall a Member do so on behalf of another 
     Member unless the other Member is an uncontested candidate.
       6.3  No Member office may transmit an unsolicited mass 
     communication during the moratorium period unless the Member 
     is an uncontested candidate. A mass communication to a 
     subscriber list or a post on an Official Website available to 
     voluntary followers is deemed to be solicited and is 
     therefore permitted during the moratorium period (subject to 
     the limitations of 6.2).
       6.4  Communications in the normal course of Senate official 
     business such as in direct response to a constituent, another 
     Member of Congress, or a federal, state or local government 
     official and a news release to the communications media are 
     permitted during the moratorium period.
       6.5  A Member subject to the restrictions in this section 
     shall display the following statement on the Member's 
     Official Senate Website homepage: ``Pursuant to Senate 
     Policy, petitions, opinion polls and unsolicited mass 
     electronic communications cannot be initiated by this office 
     for the 60-day period immediately before the date of a 
     primary or general election. Subscribers currently receiving 
     electronic communications from this office who wish to 
     unsubscribe may do so here (link).'' The words ``Senate 
     Policy'' must be hypertext linked to these rules displayed on 
     the Member's home page.
       6.6  A Member may not use another Senate office such as a 
     Senate committee to circumvent these Rules.

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