{
  "id": "R44768",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "R44768",
  "active": true,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 586982,
      "date": "2017-02-22",
      "retrieved": "2020-01-02T14:48:29.339042",
      "title": "\u201cDear Colleague\u201d Letters in the House of Representatives: Past Practices and Issues for Congress",
      "summary": "The practice of one Member, committee, or office broadly corresponding to other Members, committee, or officers dates back to at least the 1800s. At least as early as 1913, this correspondence was labeled as \u201cDear Colleague\u201d letters. Since 2003, it has been possible to track the volume of House \u201cDear Colleague\u201d letters sent through an email-based distribution system (from 2003 to 2008) and a web-based distribution system (since 2008). The creation of the web-based e-\u201cDear Colleague\u201d distribution system in 2008 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.\nNamed for their opening salutation, \u201cDear Colleague\u201d letters are official correspondence widely distributed to congressional offices. Members, committees, and officers of the House of Representatives often use \u201cDear Colleague\u201d letters to encourage others to cosponsor, support, or oppose legislation. Additionally, senders use these letters to collect signatures, invite members to events, update congressional offices on administrative rules, and provide general information. \nIn analyzing data on the volume of \u201cDear Colleague\u201d letters sent between January 2003 and December 2014 in the House of Representatives, several discernable trends can be observed. Overall the total number of \u201cDear Colleague\u201d letters continued to increase from 5,161 letters sent in 2003 to 40,487 letters sent in 2014. Additionally, examining data from the web-based e-\u201cDear Colleague\u201d system from the 111th Congress (2009-2010) and the 113th Congress (2013-2014) shows that the most common reason \u201cDear Colleague\u201d letters are sent is to solicit cosponsorships for legislation. These cosponsor \u201cDear Colleague\u201d letters accounted for 53.0% of letters in the 111th Congress and 42.0% in the 113th Congress. The second most frequent category in both congresses was asking for signatures for letters to congressional leadership, the President, or executive branch officials. These letters accounted for 20.8% of all letters in the 111th Congress and 25.4% in the 113th Congress.\nEach \u201cDear Colleague\u201d letter can be tagged in the electronic system with up to three self-selected policy categories. Analysis of the self-selected categories shows that the broad public policy issues that were most frequently tagged in the 111th Congress remained similar in the 113th Congress. Healthcare was the most frequently selected issue category with 8.8% of letters in the 111th Congress and 8.3% of letters in the 113th Congress. In both congresses, the next most popular category was foreign affairs (7.9% and 6.9%, respectively). In the 111th Congress, education (6.0%) was third most popular followed by family issues (5.8%). For the 113th Congress, family issues was third most popular (6.1%), followed by education (5.5%).\nIn light of the analysis of the volume, use, characteristics, and purpose of \u201cDear Colleague\u201d letters, several possible administrative and operational questions are raised in this report to aid the House in future discussion of the electronic \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 of how to send \u201cDear Colleague\u201d letters, see CRS Report RL34636, \u201cDear Colleague\u201d Letters: Current Practices, by Jacob R. Straus.",
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      "typeId": "REPORTS",
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      "topics": []
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  ],
  "topics": [
    "Foreign Affairs",
    "Legislative Process"
  ]
}