Senate Holds Hearings on Franking Privileges
https://highered.nbclearn.com/portal/site/HigherEd/browse/?cuecard=2761
General Information
Source:
Creator:
Event Date:
Air/Publish Date:
NBC Nightly News
Roger Mudd/Robert
Hager
06/16/1981
06/16/1981
Resource Type:
Copyright:
Copyright Date:
Clip Length
Video News Report
NBCUniversal Media,
LLC.
1981
00:01:46
Description
The Senate Government Affairs Committee holds hearings on the franking privilege, a congressional perk
that allows lawmakers to send all official mail for free.
Keywords
Franking, Privilege, Congressional, Mail, Letters, Mailings, Senate, Governmental Affairs, Committee,
Hearings, Constituents, Senator, Larry Pressler, U. S. Postal Service, Postal Service, USPS, Post Office,
Committees, Taxpayers, Waste, Reform, Fred Wertheimer, Common Cause, Congress
Citation
MLA
"Senate Holds Hearings on Franking Privileges." Robert Hager, correspondent. NBC Nightly News.
© 2008-2016 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Page 1 of 3
NBCUniversal Media. 16 June 1981. NBC Learn. Web. 19 October 2016
APA
Hager, R. (Reporter), & Mudd, R. (Anchor). 1981, June 16. Senate Holds Hearings on Franking
Privileges. [Television series episode]. NBC Nightly News. Retrieved from
https://highered.nbclearn.com/portal/site/HigherEd/browse/?cuecard=2761
CHICAGO MANUAL OF STYLE
"Senate Holds Hearings on Franking Privileges" NBC Nightly News, New York, NY: NBC Universal,
06/16/1981. Accessed Wed Oct 19 2016 from NBC Learn:
https://highered.nbclearn.com/portal/site/HigherEd/browse/?cuecard=2761
Transcript
Senate Holds Hearings on Franking Privileges
ROGER MUDD, anchor:
And the Senate Government Affairs Committee began hearings today on changing the congressional
franking privilege of sending all official mail free. Robert Hager indicates it’s not yet clear whether the
changes will save or spend.
ROBERT HAGER, reporting:
Congressmen and Senators send out more than a million pieces of free mail every day. New word
processing machines make it even easier.
A push of buttons and a government computer spews out personalized congratulations to every high
school senior in a lawmakers state. Another push of buttons sends letters on a particular issue to a
specially targeted group of constituents, and another machine signs the lawmakers names.
Free mass mailings go up when congressmen run for reelection. Volume was way up in 1976, but fell off
in 1977 when there were no elections. In 1978, volume was up again, down in 1979, and up in 1980.
The Senate committee wants to prohibit letters of congratulation, but would permit senators to send mail
simply addressed to postal patron, to every address in a state up to six times a year.
Senator Larry Pressler complained that the present law requiring a name and address for all free mail
wastes time.
Senator LARRY PRESSLER: I’ve been forced to hire, once as many as five people, to put names, to take
names out of telephone books, and put them into a computer.
HAGER: The committee says postal patron mailings would be easier for the post office to handle, and
would save money. Not so says Common Cause.
Mr. FRED WERTHEIMER: It’s taking it one step further in terms of letting them mail more mail to
more people, giving them a greater political advantage.
HAGER: The postal service gets reimbursed for handling congressional mail, so it’s the taxpayers who
pay, last year alone, $62 million. Robert Hager, NBC News, at the Capitol.
© 2008-2016 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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© 2008-2016 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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