INCUMBENT ADVANTAGE?
Both the House and the Senate have now been through their first
election cycle. Is there any hint that incumbent members sought
to bring their offices online in time for election day? Maybe
just a hint. House members were able to unveil new home pages on
the House server without restriction in the months leading up to
election day, and September was the busiest month of the year so
far for new home pages for Representatives (18), but that was not
a major rise over previous months which were running at a pace of
about 15 new member pages a month. Winners and losers both can be
found among the newly wired Representatives including Senator-
elect Tim Johnson of South Dakota who went online in the House on
September 9th, and loser Robert Dornan of California whose October
30 debut on the web was not enough to save his seat for him.
Senate Rules forbade those Senators who were facing elections to post any material to the Senate's web server, but as I've previously reported, every Senator who faced re-election except for Phil Gramm of Texas had their Senate office on the web before the cutoff. Sen. Domenici of New Mexico debuted on the last day before the freeze. Both Gramm and Domenici won re-election. Having their Senate offices online was not enough to save the seats of Larry Pressler of South Dakota or Shiela Frahm of Kansas.
You can find all the who's and when's on the House and Senate's "What's New?" pages:
U.S. House of Representatives - What's New
What's New on the Senate Web Server
A GRAND OLD PARTY FOR BILL CLINTON
Inauguration Day is one of the biggest regular events hosted by
the Congress, and the swearing-in of a President is always a sight
to see. The task of making the arrangements for inauguration
falls to the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural
Ceremonies. And so the Republican Congress must plan the party to
launch President Clinton's second term. It's the first time since
1948 a Republican Congress has had to do so for a Democratic
President. And it is certainly the first time this committee has
had a home page on the web.
The Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies
THE CONGRESSIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY ACT
Long considered the last plantation for the fact that Congress
exempted itself from the workplace labor laws it enacted, the
104th Congress passed The Congressional Accountability Act which
has changed all of that and now leaves Congress subject these
laws. The Office of Compliance was established "as an independent
agency within the legislative branch to administer the new law and
provide a means of speedy, confidential resolution of workplace
disputes." There's plenty of disputes of the legislative sort on
the Hill that this office won't be able to touch, but pay their
web site a visit anyway, just to check.
CAPWEB HAS MOVED
Started on a whim with the help of my fellow Senate staffer, Jeff
Hecker, CapWeb (a web based guide to Congress mentioned in my
book) developed into a popular starting point for many who sought
to track down the wired Congress. We are currently working to
bring CapWeb up to date to reflect the new 105th Congress and plan
on having it in place as soon as possible. The new CapWeb has a
new address, so please check you hyperlinks and bookmarks, and pay
us a visit soon.
CapWeb: A Guide to the U.S. Congress
That's all for now!
Regards,
Chris
Copyright ©1996 by Chris Casey
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