Pelosi: Congressional Record Now Printed on 100 Percent Recycled Paper;

Pelosi: Congressional Record Now Printed on 100 Percent Recycled Paper

Friday, October 2, 2009

Contact: Brendan Daly/Nadeam Elshami/Drew Hammill, 202-226-7616

Washington, D.C. - Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced today that the Congressional Record is now printed on 100 percent recycled paper. The Speaker was presented with a copy of the Congressional Record by the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO). The move is part of the larger â€Å"Green the Capitol†Initiative, started by Speaker Pelosi in 2007, which has instituted sustainability practices, making the House a leader in resource conservation and energy efficiency. Below are the Speaker's remarks:

â€Å"Good afternoon. It is a proud day to be able to welcome you to the Speaker's office to announce something very important. I am so pleased to be here with Bob Tapella, who is the General Printing Office's Public Printer and a fellow Californian, and I thank you for leading this effort. Lorraine Miller, Clerk of the House. Nancy Erickson, Secretary of the Senate, and thank you for coordinating this move on both sides of the Capitol. And Dan Beard, our Chief Administrative Officer for his continuing leadership on the â€Å"Green the Capitol†initiative. They and others in this room have been working on this important initiative.

â€Å"This effort, the effort to green the nation, obviously must start at home. And home for us in the House and in the Senate and for Members of Congress is right here in the Capitol. As we move forward in our initiatives to 'Green the Capitol,' we are announcing today that the Congressional Record will be printed on 100 percent recycled paper. An initiative long overdue, but a part of the â€Å"Green the Capitol†initiative I began when I became Speaker.

â€Å"Every day the GPO prints 4,130 copies of the Congressional Record. That is down more than 75 percent from 1995 because of the Internet. What we are doing now will reduce landfill waste, reduce 1.4 million pounds of greenhouse gas emissions annually, support private industry efforts to develop new, environmentally-friendly technologies. It puts the official proceedings of Congress on recycled paper and that is good for our environment and good for our future.

â€Å"This is one more step in the 'Green the Capitol' program - making sustainability a priority, placing conservation and energy efficiency at the top of our agenda, and putting America's leaders at the forefront of an issue that affects all Americans.

â€Å"I say this with personal pride today and with my own personal story. When I was born, my father was a Member of Congress from Maryland. And I remember as a little tiny girl and then growing up that my mother used to have the Congressional Records under my brother's bed. My father said, 'I need the Congressional Record the day we had the debate on such and such,' because she had a whole system. I had five older brothers and they used to jump on the beds and break the springs but the Congressional Record was there, and it was not only our library, but a way to have the beds be more sound.

â€Å"That was really a very long time ago, but I always remember this because nobody I know had a library of Congressional Record statements under their brothers' beds and could read about any subject at any time. And now to be here today in the Speaker's office when we are taking such a revolutionary step in making the Congressional Record all on recycled paper it is an official as well as a personal privilege for me.

â€Å"And with that, I would like to yield to Bob Tapella, as I mentioned a fellow Californian and the Government Printing Office Public Printer. And again, thank you for leading this important effort.â€