The report from the 1993 Joint Committee on the Organization of Congress makes for interesting reading. Does it now look dated, and did Congress succeed in undertaking these reforms?

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

To be effective, the legislative branch efficiently must process the enormous amounts of information it handles. Congress should take advantage of the technology available to improve information management and should better manage the information tools already in place. Under the House Subcommittee’s recommendations, the Joint Committee on the Library and the Joint Committee on Printing would be abolished and most of their functions transferred to a proposed Joint Committee on Information Management. The new Joint Committee would coordinate information management for Congress, establish standards and policies for information technology in Congress, and ensure public dissemination of executive branch information.

In addition to improving the internal flow of information, the recommendations would save money and improve public access to information. To further both those ends, the House Subcommittee also recommends a sense of the House resolution that legislative information be more readily available and more widely disseminated to Members and the public. Committee and conference reports should be filed on computer disk to make them more accessible. Specified legislative information should be made available to public and Depository Libraries by computer for nominal charge. Bills, committee reports, conference reports, and amendments should be available for review at least 24 hours before consideration. Legislative documents should be accessible on computer to all congressional offices and through databases to the public. And the in-house, cable broadcast system should be enhanced to provide all committee hearing rooms and party cloakrooms with onscreen summaries of pending legislation.

PUBLIC UNDERSTANDING OF CONGRESS

While Congress is the most open branch of government, its complexity often makes it difficult for the public to follow. Yet a democracy depends on an informed, knowledgeable citizenry. Previously mentioned reforms will make legislative branch information more accessible to the public and will make it easier for the public to hold Members accountable for their work and to judge their effectiveness.

Also, the House Subcommittee believes additional steps should be taken to enhance the quality and availability of information on Congress to the public. The House Subcommittee expresses the sense of the House that Congress should: experiment with alternative debate forms on the floor, such as Oxford Union style debates; support ongoing initiatives to raise private funds to create a congressional education center; develop a central telephone line for information on the congressional agenda; encourage civic education programs; and enhance orientation programs for journalists covering Congress.

Section 2 of House Report 107-787, which accompanied the e-government act of 2002, has similar language:

(a) FINDINGS.-Congress finds the following:

(1) The use of computers and the Internet is rapidly transforming societal interactions and the relationships among citizens, private businesses, and the Government.

Three publications with language that similarly broadly characterizes IT resources: OMB Circular a-130, m-05-04, and m-06-02 .