The Hill on The Net
Electronic Update #6


11/18/96

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.

Office of Compliance

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


Electronic Updates #1, #2, #3, #4, #5 & #7.


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