5 The only restrictions on STEI permitted by Circular No. A-130 are "applicable national security controls and the proprietary rights of others", as established in section 7(k)(58 Federal Register 126, p. 36071). The conditions established by NTIS reference neither national security controls nor proprietary rights. Therefore, they would be an impermissible restriction under Circular No. A-130. There also appears to be no statutory basis for these restrictions in P.L. 102-245. Finally, no restrictions on the use or reuse of information are authorized by chapter 19 of Title 44. Again, we are encouraged to see NTIS's positive response to the needs of depository libraries for access to STEI handled by NTIS. STEI is a field of Government information to which the libraries have sought greater access for many years. GPO will be happy to work with NTIS and issuing agencies in the establishment of interagency agreements under the auspices of the Depository Library Program. In this manner, the depository community and its users can be assured of effective, economical, comprehensive, and timely access to STEI in all formats in the future. Sincerely, Michael F.lli Maris MICHAEL F. DIMARIO Public Printer Mr. FAZIO. Well, it has been a long morning, but we appreciate the thoroughness with which we have been able to cover the GPO budget and consider allied concerns about JCP. So I want to thank you very much. We look forward to working closely with you as we get closer to what will be one of our more difficult markups. Thank you very much. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1994. PUBLIC WITNESSES WITNESSES HON. PETER J. VISCLOSKY, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF INDIANA DENNIS M. ROTH, CONGRESSIONAL RESEARCH EMPLOYEES ASSOCIATION KATHERINE F. MAWDSLEY, AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION AND HON. CHARLES MCC. MATHIAS, JR., AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION MARC MAURER, NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND FREDRIC ALAN MAXWELL, WRITER JOYCE THORPE, BLACK EMPLOYEES OF THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS/ ETHNIC EMPLOYEES OF THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS Mr. FAZIO. I would like to welcome everybody to the last hearing of the Legislative Branch Subcommittee. We are going to be hearing from Outside Witnesses today, some of whom have appeared before us before, others of whom are new to us. Let me just stipulate the ground rules. We ask people to restrict their comments to five minutes in length if they can, and we generally go in the order of first come, first served. The Honorable Peter Visclosky will appear first, and then Dennis M. Roth, Katherine F. Mawdsley, the Honorable Charles McC. Mathias, Jr., Rose Apter, Marc Maurer, Fredric Alan Maxwell, and Joyce Thorpe. And hopefully everybody will make their statements available for the record. Then to summarize within the five minutes would be ideal-unless, of course, your written comments are of that brevity. We will perhaps have some questions and that might add to your time, but we would like people, if possible, to try to summarize their comments. And, of course, the full extent of what they have to say will be available to the Members and the staff for detailed perusal. So let me begin with my colleague from Indiana, the First District, Peter Visclosky, who, when I first met him, was employed by my predecessor, Adam Benjamin, the Chairman of this committee for one term and, regrettably, passed away during that term of Congress. Now his successor, Peter. Mr. VISCLOSKY. Mr. Chairman, thank you very much. I want to thank yourself, Mr. Packard and the other Members of the subcommittee for the opportunity to be here today. Mr. Chairman, I want to direct my remarks to one program under the subcommittee's jurisdiction, the program of the Books for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, something I think many of us are always concerned about, but in this year something that is of specific concern to myself. A very good friend of my family's, a life-long attorney in northwest Indiana, physically robust, professionally very successful and just a good, decent human being, in his late 60s, suffered a very serious, life-threatening stroke about four to five months ago. Fortunately, Mr. Roth has made a complete physical and mental recovery. There are no residual signs of the stroke that he suffered last year, with one exception, and that is he has lost his sight. I talked to him recently over the phone, and the first plug in terms of programs that have been already of assistance to him is the program of Books for the Blind. That brings me here to you today. I understand very clearly the financial constraints that the subcommittee is working under, that the President has made a request of $50.1 million for this, and the current year appropriation is $42.7 million. I trust that you will give the President's request what serious consideration you can, and balance it against other competing demands. But if there is one statistic that really, I guess, jumps out at me, it is the fact that there are about 40,000 new books are published in the United States every year. Clearly no one individual group or segment of our society is going to reference all of those volumes, but when you recognize that the appropriation that was made for the Congress this year will allow the Library of Congress to reproduce braille books in the amount of 348 books and 27 magazines, we realize the tremendous discrepancy and gap that remains and the work yet to be done. So, again, I appreciate the opportunity to appear before the subcommittee and would thank you for any consideration you can give to the program. Mr. FAZIO. Thank you, Peter. We did have Kurt Cylke of the Library's Books for the Blind and Physically Handicapped program deliver some testimony to us about the increase this year. There were questions related to the turnover of the talking-book machines, and also the general desire that he has to make sure that he can keep up with the slightly increasing, the regularly increasing demand. And I am aware that we may have others testifying on this point later on. It isn't easy to do anything within any budget in the Legislative Branch to augment emphasis when we are required to be cutting, but he certainly made a good case, as have you. Mr. VISCLOSKY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. FAZIO. Thank you. Dennis Roth from the Congressional Research Employees Association, a frequent testifier before this subcommittee and someone who carefully observes the committee's deliberations as well. Do you want to introduce your colleague and place your remarks on the record? Mr. ROTH. With me is Sharon Kearney, our Vice President for Policy. Mr. FAZIO. We have met Sharon before, as well. Ms. KEARNEY. Nice to see you again. |