I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2303

To direct the Librarian of Congress to prepare the history of the House

of Representatives, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 22, 1999

Mr. LARSON (for himself, Mr. HASTERT, Mr. GEPHARDT, Mrs. EMERSON, Mr.

UDALL of New Mexico, Mr. LAHOOD, Mr. DAVIS of Virginia, Ms. ESHOO,

Mr. SHIMKUS, Mr. KIND, Mr. WOLF, Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts, Mr.

UNDERWOOD, Mr. HOUGHTON, Mr. LANTOS, Mr. CROWLEY, Mr.

GEJDENSON, Mr. WU, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. BEREUTER, Mr. STARK, Mr.

FROST, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. COSTELLO, Mr. LAFALCE, Mr. LEWIS of

Georgia, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. KING, Mr.

HINCHEY, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Mr.

METCALF, Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania, Mr. CLAY, Mr. CASTLE, Mr.

GREEN of Texas, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. STUMP, Ms. MCKINNEY, Mr.

KOLBE, Mr. BONIOR, Mr. DINGELL, Mr. BLUNT, Mr. FORBES, Mr. ACKERMAN, Mrs. CLAYTON, Mr. QUINN, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of

Texas, Mr. HOLDEN, Mr. UDALL of Colorado, Mr. DAVIS of Florida, Mr.

FATTAH, Mr. GOODLING, Mr. VENTO, Mr. FARR of California, Mr.

GREENWOOD, Mr. EHLERS, Mr. HOEFFEL, Ms. PELOSI, Mr. SKELTON,

Mr. KILDEE, Ms. KILPATRICK, Mr. MORAN of Virginia, Mr. MCHUGH,

Mr. MALONEY of Connecticut, Mr. CLYBURN, Mrs. MEEK of Florida, Mr.

TRAFICANT, Mr. BLILEY, Mr. MATSUI, Mr. LUCAS of Oklahoma, Mr.

NORWOOD, Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO ́, Mr. FILNER, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD,

Mrs. THURMAN, Mr. DUNCAN, Mr. MCNULTY, Mr. MOORE, Ms. LEE,

Mr. SMITH of Washington, Mr. BORSKI, Mrs. JONES of Ohio, Ms. NORTON, Mr. WEINER, Mr. NEY, Mr. BROWN of California, Mr. HILL of Indiana, Ms. DANNER, Mr. GONZALEZ, Ms. RIVERS, Mr. KENNEDY of

Rhode Island, Mr. RAHALL, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Mr. MEEHAN,

Mr. WYNN, Mr. EHRLICH, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. PASTOR, Mr.

COOKSEY, Mr. KUCINICH, Mr. MEEKS of New York, Mr. SERRANO, Mr.

BLAGOJEVICH, Mr. PITTS, Mr. ROGAN, Mrs. CHRISTENSEN, Mr.

CUNNINGHAM, Mr. GALLEGLY, Mr. DELAHUNT, Mr. SPENCE, Mr.

TANCREDO, Mr. POMEROY, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. KLECZKA, Mr.

SENSENBRENNER, Mrs. CAPPS, Mr. LIPINSKI, Mr. SABO, Mrs. MORELLA,

Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN, Mr. PALLONE, Mrs. KELLY, Mr. ARCHER, Mr.

LEWIS of California, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. TURNER, Mr. BASS, Mr.

DIXON, Mr. PHELPS, Mr. BOUCHER, Mr. MURTHA, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Mr.
2

•HR 2303 IH

SOUDER, Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA, Mr. MICA, Mr. KANJORSKI, Mr. EWING,

Mr. HILLIARD, Mr. HOYER, Mr. BOYD, Mr. SMITH of Michigan, Mrs.

MINK of Hawaii, Mr. SCOTT, Mr. BENTSEN, Mr. PETERSON of Minnesota, Mr. CRANE, Mr. CALVERT, Mr. WALSH, Mr. YOUNG of Florida,

Mr. SHAYS, Mr. SHERMAN, Mr. TIERNEY, Mr. GOODLATTE, Mr.

GANSKE, Mr. RYUN of Kansas, Mr. PORTER, Mr. BERMAN, Mr.

STEARNS, Mr. OWENS, Mr. SAWYER, Mr. HULSHOF, Mr. MOLLOHAN,

Mr. CLEMENT, Mr. OXLEY, Mr. HORN, Mr. SANDLIN, Mr. JACKSON of

Illinois, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. SHAW, Mr. UPTON, Mr. BERRY,

Mr. HILL of Montana, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California, Mrs. LOWEY,

Mr. BATEMAN, Mr. BARRETT of Nebraska, Mr. BOEHLERT, Mr. BRADY

of Pennsylvania, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. ETHERIDGE, Ms. HOOLEY of Oregon,

Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD, Mr. BALLENGER, Mr. CAPUANO, Mr.

SPRATT, Mr. SHOWS, Mr. SISISKY, Mr. TIAHRT, Mr. CUMMINGS, Ms.

LOFGREN, Mr. GREEN of Wisconsin, Mrs. CHENOWETH, Mr. REYES, Mr.

ROEMER, Mrs. JOHNSON of Connecticut, Mr. DEMINT, Mr. ALLEN, Mr.

JONES of North Carolina, Mr. LEACH, Mr. LAMPSON, Mr. CALLAHAN,

Mr. EVANS, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. HAYWORTH, Mr. OLVER, Mr. SAXTON,

Mr. MOAKLEY, Ms. SANCHEZ, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mr. RUSH, Mr. JENKINS,

Mr. BALDACCI, Mr. BISHOP, Mr. BILBRAY, Mr. MASCARA, Mr. ANDREWS, Mr. BAIRD, Ms. BERKLEY, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. GORDON, Mr. BOSWELL, Mr. DOOLEY of California, Mrs. FOWLER, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr.

HOLT, Mr. MCINTYRE, Mr. GOODE, Mr. DEAL of Georgia, Mrs. MYRICK,

Mr. FOLEY, Mr. THOMPSON of California, Mr. SWEENEY, Mr. TOWNS,

Mr. BARRETT of Wisconsin, Mr. BECERRA, Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin, Mr.

TOOMEY, Mr. SIMPSON, and Mr. SKEEN) introduced the following bill;

which was referred to the Committee on House Administration

A BILL

To direct the Librarian of Congress to prepare the history

of the House of Representatives, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘History of the House

5 Awareness and Preservation Act’’.
3

•HR 2303 IH

1 SEC. 2. WRITTEN HISTORY OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENT2 ATIVES.

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to available funding, the

4 Librarian of Congress shall prepare a new and complete

5 written history of the United States House of Representa6 tives. In preparing this written history, the Librarian of

7 Congress shall consult, commission, or engage the services

8 or participation of, eminent historians, and Members or

9 former Members of the House of Representatives.

10 (b) GUIDELINES.—In carrying out subsection (a), the

11 Librarian of Congress shall take into account the fol12 lowing:

13 (1) The history should be an illustrated, nar14 rative history of the House of Representatives, orga15 nized chronologically.

16 (2) The history’s intended audience is the gen17 eral reader, as well as Members of Congress and

18 their staffs.

19 (3) The history should include a discussion of

20 the First and Second Continental Congresses and

21 the Constitutional Convention, especially with regard

22 to their roles in creating the House of Representa23 tives.

24 (c) PRINTING.—

25 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Librarian of Congress

26 shall arrange for the printing of the history.
4

•HR 2303 IH

1 (2) PRINTING ARRANGEMENTS.—The printing

2 may be performed—

3 (A) by the Public Printer pursuant to the

4 provisions of chapter 5 of title 44, United

5 States Code;

6 (B) under a cooperative arrangement

7 among the Librarian of Congress, a private

8 funding source obtained pursuant to subsection

9 (e), and a publisher in the private sector; or

10 (C) under subparagraphs (A) and (B).

11 (3) INTERNET EXCERPTING.—Any arrangement

12 under paragraph (2) shall include terms for dissemi13 nation of excerpts of the history over the Internet

14 via facilities maintained by the United States Gov15 ernment.

16 (4) MEMBER COPIES.—To the extent that the

17 history is printed by the Public Printer, copies of the

18 history provided to the Congress under subsection

19 (d) shall be charged to the Government Printing Of20 fice’s congressional allotment for printing and bind21 ing.

22 (d) DISTRIBUTION.—The Librarian of Congress shall

23 make the history available for sale to the public, and shall

24 make available, free of charge, 5 copies to each Member
5

•HR 2303 IH

1 of the House of Representatives and 250 copies to the

2 Senate.

3 (e) PRIVATE FUNDING.—The Librarian of Congress

4 may solicit and accept funding for the preparation, publi5 cation, marketing, and public distribution of the history

6 from private individuals, organizations, or entities.

7 SEC. 3. ORAL HISTORY OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTA8 TIVES.

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Librarian of Congress shall

10 accept for deposit, preserve, maintain, and make acces11 sible, an oral history of the United States House of Rep12 resentatives, as told by its Members and former Members,

13 compiled and updated (on a voluntary or contract basis)

14 by the United States Association of Former Members of

15 Congress or other outside organization. In carrying out

16 this section, the Librarian of Congress may enlist the vol17 untary aid or assistance of such organization, or may con18 tract with it for such services as may be necessary.

19 (b) DEFINITION OF ORAL HISTORY.—In this section,

20 the term ‘‘oral history’’ means a story or history consisting

21 of the personal recollection as recorded in any one or more

22 of the following means:

23 (1) Interviews;

24 (2) Transcripts;

25 (3) Audio recordings;
6

•HR 2303 IH

1 (4) Video recordings; or

2 (5) Such other form or means as may be suit3 able for the recording and preservation of such in4 formation.

5 SEC. 4. SENSE OF THE CONGRESS.

6 It is the sense of the Congress that—

7 (1) orientation programs for freshman Members

8 of the House of Representatives should contain a

9 seminar on the history of the House of Representa10 tives; and

11 (2) the Speaker of the House of Representa12 tives should conduct a series of forums on the topic

13 of the history of the House of Representatives.

Æ