{
  "id": "R42026",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "R42026",
  "active": false,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 391352,
      "date": "2011-09-26",
      "retrieved": "2016-04-07T00:32:08.667457",
      "title": "\u201cDear Colleague\u201d Letters in the House of Representatives: An Analysis of Volume, Use, Characteristics, and Purpose",
      "summary": "The practice of writing \u201cDear Colleague\u201d letters\u2014official written correspondence from one Member, committee, or office to other Members, committees, or offices\u2014dates back to at least the 1800s. Yet until recently, it was almost impossible to track the volume or purpose of \u201cDear Colleague\u201d letters because a centralized, searchable system did not exist. The creation of the web-based e-\u201cDear Colleague\u201d system has made it possible to systematically examine \u201cDear Colleague\u201d letters, thereby offering a clearer understanding of what are largely, but not exclusively, intra-chamber communications.\nIn analyzing data on the volume of \u201cDear Colleague\u201d letters sent between January 2003 and December 2010, several discernable trends can be observed. Overall, the total number of \u201cDear Colleague\u201d letters sent continued to increase, from 5,161 \u201cDear Colleague\u201d letters sent in 2003 to 14,531 letters sent in 2010. Additionally, the data show that overall more letters were sent during the first session of a Congress than the second session, and that the average number of \u201cDear Colleague\u201d letters sent in the second session declined between September and December. This fall-off coincides with a decline in overall legislative activity at the end of a Congress.\nDuring the 111th Congress, data from the web-based e-\u201cDear Colleague\u201d system showed that Members sent the most letters (94%), and that the most popular topics were health care (8.8%) and foreign affairs (7.9%), followed by education (6.0%), family issues (5.8%), economy (5.6%), and environment (5.4%). The data demonstrated that the most frequent use of \u201cDear Colleague\u201d letters in the 111th Congress was to elicit bill and resolution co-sponsors (53%).\nFinally, when examining \u201cDear Colleague\u201d letters that were linked to a specific piece of legislation, the data showed that public laws with a linked \u201cDear Colleague\u201d letter had a greater number of average co-sponsors (74) than public laws without an associated \u201cDear Colleague\u201d letter (16). The same can also be said for House resolutions, where resolutions associated with a \u201cDear Colleague\u201d letter had an average of 50 co-sponsors and resolutions not associated with a \u201cDear Colleague\u201d letter had an average of 24.\nIn light of the analysis of the volume, use, characteristics, and purpose of \u201cDear Colleague\u201d letters, several possible administrative and operations questions are raised to aid the House in future discussions of the e-\u201cDear Colleague\u201d system. These include questions on handling the growth in volume of \u201cDear Colleague\u201d letters sent per year, and the potential to create additional mechanisms within the e-\u201cDear Colleague\u201d system to aid subscribers in managing the \u201cDear Colleague\u201d letters they receive.\nFor a brief explanation on how to send \u201cDear Colleague\u201d letters, see CRS Report RL34636, \u201cDear Colleague\u201d Letters: Current Practices, by Jacob R. Straus.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
      "active": false,
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          "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/R42026",
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      ],
      "topics": []
    }
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Foreign Affairs"
  ]
}