[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 139 (Monday, September 9, 2024)]
[House]
[Pages H5046-H5047]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   REPEAL REQUIREMENT FOR CONGRESSIONAL RESEARCH SERVICE TO PREPARE 
      ANNOTATED CONSTITUTION AND SUPPLEMENTS IN HARDBOUND VERSION

  Mr. STEIL. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill 
(H.R. 7592) to direct the Librarian of Congress to promote the more 
cost-effective, efficient, and expanded availability of the Annotated 
Constitution and pocket-part supplements by replacing the hardbound 
versions with digital versions.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 7592

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. REPEAL REQUIREMENT FOR CONGRESSIONAL RESEARCH 
                   SERVICE TO PREPARE ANNOTATED CONSTITUTION AND 
                   SUPPLEMENTS IN HARDBOUND VERSION.

       (a) Repeal.--The first section of Public Law 91-589 (2 
     U.S.C. 168) is amended--
       (1) by striking ``the Librarian of Congress'' and inserting 
     ``(a) subject to subsection (b), the Librarian of Congress''; 
     and
       (2) by adding at the end the following new subsection:
       ``(b)(1) Upon the completion of the October 2031 term of 
     the Supreme Court and upon the completion of each tenth 
     October term of the Supreme Court thereafter, the Librarian 
     of Congress shall have prepared a digital decennial revised 
     edition of the Constitution Annotated, which shall contain 
     annotations of all decisions theretofore rendered by the 
     Supreme Court construing provisions of the Constitution, in 
     place of the hardbound decennial revised edition of the 
     Constitution Annotated described in subsection (a)(3).
       ``(2) Upon the completion of the October 2023 term of the 
     Supreme Court and upon the completion of each subsequent 
     October term of the Supreme Court beginning in an odd-
     numbered year (the final digit of which is not a 1), the 
     Librarian shall have prepared a digital cumulative pocket-
     part supplement to the most recent decennial revised edition 
     of the Constitution Annotated, which shall contain cumulative 
     annotations of all such decisions rendered by the Supreme 
     Court which were not included in the most recent revised 
     edition of the Constitution Annotated, in place of the 
     hardbound editions of the cumulative pocket-part supplement 
     described in subsection (a)(4).''.
       (b) Ensuring Availability of Digital Versions.--Section 2 
     of Public Law 91-589 (2 U.S.C. 168a) is amended--
       (1) by striking ``All hardbound'' and inserting ``(a) All 
     hardbound''; and
       (2) by adding at the end the following new subsection:
       ``(b)(1) The digital decennial revised editions of the 
     Constitution Annotated prepared under subsection (b)(1) of 
     the first section of this Joint Resolution and the digital 
     cumulative pocket-part supplements prepared under subsection 
     (b)(2) of the first section of this Joint Resolution shall be 
     available at a public website of the Library of Congress.
       ``(2) The Librarian of Congress shall ensure the continuing 
     availability of the documents referred to in paragraph (1) to 
     Congress and the public.''.
       (c) Repeal of Additional Printing Requirements.--
       (1) Mandatory printing of additional copies.--Section 3 of 
     Public Law 91-589 (2 U.S.C. 168b) is amended--
       (A) by striking ``There shall be printed'' and inserting 
     ``(a) There shall be printed''; and
       (B) by adding at the end the following new subsection:
       ``(b) Subsection (a) does not apply after completion of the 
     October 2023 term of the Supreme Court, and the Librarian of 
     Congress shall provide the decennial revised editions of the 
     Constitution Annotated and the cumulative pocket part 
     supplements prepared under this Joint Resolution exclusively 
     in a digital format available at a public website of the 
     Library of Congress.''.
       (2) Printing of additional copies pursuant to concurrent 
     resolution.--Section 4 of Public Law 91-589 (2 U.S.C. 168c) 
     is repealed.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Wisconsin (Mr. Steil) and the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Kilmer) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Wisconsin.


                             General Leave

  Mr. STEIL. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and 
include extraneous material on the bill, H.R. 7592.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Wisconsin?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. STEIL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 7592. Today, Congress 
will save taxpayers $5 million. Yes, you heard me correctly: Congress 
will save taxpayer dollars today.
  While our Nation is running $32 trillion in debt, and we have a long 
way to go to get our country back on track, this is a good policy. It 
will save taxpayers money.
  We do this by getting rid of the statutory requirement to print 
hardbound copies of the Constitution Annotated, or CONAN, as it is 
better known today.
  An easily accessible and up-to-date online version of it already 
exists and is already used by millions of Americans. Continuing to 
print hardbound copies not only wastes taxpayer dollars, but it also 
wastes the time of CRS staff, who could better support the more 
pressing work of Congress.
  It is a positive step in modernizing Congress. At the beginning of 
the 118th Congress, the Committee on House Administration took the 
important step of working to modernize how Congress works. The 
Modernization Subcommittee is led by Chairwoman Stephanie Bice and 
Ranking Member Derek Kilmer. The subcommittee is bringing good ideas to 
life by focusing on what we can do to make Congress a more effective 
and efficient institution.
  I have argued that the work of modernizing Congress extends to 
Congress' support agencies. They need to work in a way that reflects 
how today's Congress works.
  The CONAN print requirement reflects how Congress worked 50 years 
ago, before the internet even existed. Today, the rules don't make much 
sense.
  We do ourselves a disservice when we require CRS to do work that is 
no longer necessary, no longer meets our needs. The more Congress can 
do to optimize tremendous resources like CRS, the better off Congress 
is, and H.R. 7592 moves us toward that goal.
  I recognize Modernization Subcommittee Chairwoman Stephanie Bice, 
who, along with subcommittee Ranking Member Derek Kilmer, 
Representative Carey, and Representative Morelle, introduced this 
measure and worked on a bipartisan basis to bring it to the floor 
today.
  I also recognize Chairwoman Bice for demonstrating that subcommittees 
have an important role to play in the legislative process. This was the 
first time in 31 years that a subcommittee of the House Administration 
Committee held a markup.
  Mr. Speaker, I am grateful for the hard work that went into this 
important measure, and I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting 
H.R. 7592. I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. KILMER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I am happy to stand before you today to speak about two 
bills that have come from the Modernization Subcommittee, which 
encompass the select committee's mission to make Congress work better 
for the American people. Each of these bills addresses a problem or 
challenge we identified through the Select Committee on the 
Modernization of Congress.
  I thank our subcommittee chair, Stephanie Bice, and our subcommittee 
colleagues,  Joe Morelle and  Mike Carey, for their bipartisan 
partnership on these bills, too, as well as our full committee 
chairman, Bryan Steil.
  As many of you know, the Congressional Research Service, or CRS, 
mission is to provide timely, objective, and authoritative research and 
analysis to Congress, its Members, committees, and staff.
  The policy proposals we put forth are better for CRS' involvement and 
support of us. That is why our subcommittee took it very seriously when 
CRS' interim director, Robert Newlen, approached us about a few 
challenges CRS was having and ways we could help.
  In the select committee, we recommended congressional committees 
consider the authorities for congressional support agencies and 
identify those that need updating. H.R. 7592 and our next bill, H.R. 
7593, are perfect examples of this.
  Under existing law, the Library of Congress is required to produce 
hardbound copies of the Constitution

[[Page H5047]]

with annotations, also referred to as CONAN.
  You actually have to be as strong as Conan to lift this. My mother 
tells me that at birth, I was 6 pounds, 8 ounces. This is 8 pounds, 14 
ounces, so it is larger than small Derek Kilmer.
  The task of printing this behemoth has fallen to CRS, and the most 
recent CONAN print cost $1 million per year to print, not to mention 
the considerable staff time and attention spent formatting, printing, 
and distributing said books.
  The law requiring printed CONAN copies predated widespread internet 
access. Since 2019, the Library of Congress and CRS have made this same 
information available online, free of cost, with the added benefit of 
real-time updates that just aren't possible with printed books.
  This bill simply replaces the requirement for the Library of Congress 
and CRS to prepare hardbound versions of the CONAN and replaces it with 
a requirement to prepare digital versions and publish them online 
instead, as they already have been doing.
  Through this bill, the American people can receive better and more 
up-to-date information online. We can save taxpayer dollars and 
valuable CRS staff capacity. We can eliminate the 8 pounds and 14 
ounces of print. I personally would like to eliminate 8 pounds and 14 
ounces after the weight I have gained over the August recess.

  I think this is a commonsense bill, and I thank my colleague, 
Chairwoman Bice, for her leadership on this.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve 
the balance of my time.
  Mr. STEIL. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the 
gentlewoman from Oklahoma (Mrs. Bice) to speak on the bill.
  Mrs. BICE. Mr. Speaker, as was mentioned by my colleague Mr. Kilmer, 
this is the Constitution Annotated, or CONAN, as it is better known 
today. Its origins date back to 1797 when Congress passed legislation 
requiring that every Member of Congress be provided a copy of the 
Constitution.
  These copies were then expanded to include Supreme Court case 
citations so that Members could see which clauses of the Constitution 
the Court used to decide those cases.
  As the number of citations grew, Members became frustrated with the 
new format. The hundreds of citations listed under each clause of the 
Constitution were useless to most of them because they had no idea what 
the cases were about and what questions were before the Court.
  In 1921, Congress passed a resolution requiring reprints of the 
Constitution to include explanatory language that would make sense of 
all the case citations throughout. This requirement made the reprints 
much more useful to the Members, and the format created then is one 
that is still used today.
  Initially, CONAN was printed every 10 years or so, but by 1970, 
Members began to complain that it was outdated almost as soon as it was 
printed. They addressed this by passing a resolution requiring that a 
paperbound supplement to CONAN be printed every 2 years, in addition to 
printing the hardbound version of the CONAN every 10.
  Since 1972, that is what we have done: Print a hardbound version of 
CONAN every 10 years and a paperbound supplement every 2.
  CONAN obviously has a rich history dating back over two centuries. 
The Constitution provides the framework for our government, and 
understanding that framework and how the Supreme Court has applied it 
to its decisions over the years is as essential today as it was over 
200 years ago.
  Nothing about H.R. 7592 erases or changes this important history. In 
fact, the legislative history of CONAN makes it clear that Congress has 
consistently prioritized up-to-date interpretation and analysis of 
court cases, and this resolution honors that longstanding tradition.
  Today, people rely on digital sources for the most up-to-date 
information. This is true whether we are talking about breaking news, 
airfares, restaurant reviews, or Supreme Court case citations.
  CONAN is a case in point. According to the GPO, the number of print 
copies of CONAN requested in 2012 by the House, Senate, and Joint 
Committee on Printing was just over 1,000. Ten years later, in 2022, 
the number of requested copies dropped to just 659.
  It is no coincidence that this drop in requests for the hardbound 
version of CONAN coincides with the 2019 launch of a digital version of 
CONAN.
  Over the past 5 years, the CONAN website has become an invaluable 
resource to individuals, citizens, schools, libraries, and, of course, 
Congress. The user-friendly site has received more than 28 million 
visits since it was created and features hundreds of pages of 
constitutional analysis and content.
  The site is publicly accessible, easy to search, and provides links 
to Supreme Court decisions. Perhaps most importantly, it is updated in 
real time by CRS.
  All of this raises the question of why we are wasting taxpayer 
dollars printing this giant hardcover version of CONAN along with 
paperbound supplements when a superior digital version already exists.
  According to the CBO, replacing this version of CONAN with a digital 
version would reduce the Library of Congress' operating costs by 
millions over the next few years.
  Eliminating the print requirement will also eliminate inefficient use 
of CRS staff time. In addition to updating the online version of CONAN 
in real time, CRS staff have to spend countless hours formatting and 
paginating the print version of CONAN. A more efficient CRS ultimately 
benefits Congress and, in turn, our constituents.
  Mr. Speaker, replacing the CONAN print requirement with a digital 
requirement is a no-brainer. The digital version provides Members and 
other users with the most up-to-date information and analysis available 
at a significant cost savings for taxpayers.
  History shows that Congress has consistently taken steps to ensure 
that CONAN meets the evolving needs of Members and other users. Passing 
this legislation is a logical next step in maintaining CONAN's 
relevancy and usefulness, both to Congress and to the American people.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 7592.

                              {time}  1515

  Mr. KILMER. Mr. Speaker, I don't have any additional speakers, and I 
yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. STEIL. Mr. Speaker, I again thank the gentlewoman from Oklahoma 
(Mrs. Bice), the Modernization Subcommittee chairwoman, for her 
leadership on this measure that will save taxpayer dollars.
  I also recognize, once again, the subcommittee ranking member Mr. 
Kilmer as well as Mr. Carey and Mr. Morelle. I urge all of my 
colleagues who want to save taxpayers $5 million to vote in support of 
H.R. 7592. I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Steil) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 7592.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________