A Dictionary of Congressional Record Formatting Problems
A running catalogue of the typos, printing errors and layout conventions that make the Record difficult to parse.
The Congressional Record is the official transcript of House and Senate floor proceedings, typeset and published by the Government Printing Office (GPO). It has been produced since 1873. It is structured, and it is laid out in a particular typeset format dictated by GPO. That format covers page structure, headings, speaker bylines, page markings, paragraph indentation, and more. However, there is a surprising amount of variation in the formatting: some of it is intentional, but much of it is errors made by GPO when setting the overnight daily edition.
This catalogue is in two parts, split along that line.
- Part I is errors: GPO printed something wrong, and it would be wrong to a human reader too.
- Part II is variation in formatting, including uncommon cases and similar formatting that is easy to confuse when parsing.
Every entry gives the source excerpt as published, with the defect marked, and the file and line number so it can be checked. Each entry states what a generic parser might struggle with, and what our parser does. Counts, where they appear, are from our sample of days from 2024 through 2026, roughly 32,000 pages.
Several parsers already exist for the Record. The most widely used open-source one is congressional-record, written by Nicholas Judd, Dan Drinkard, Jeremy Carbaugh and Lindsay Young. A second dataset is Congressional Record for the 43rd–114th Congresses, built by Matthew Gentzkow, Jesse Shapiro and Matt Taddy and distributed by Stanford Libraries. ProPublica's Capitol Words parser is another. Our parser aims to improve on these in various ways we have documented elsewhere, including being robust to all of the errors and variations listed in the dictionary below.
Printing Errors
This section covers GPO printing mistakes. A human reader would call each one a typo.
Bylines
A speaker's surname printed without capitals
Mr. PALAZZO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to remind the American people
that today marks President Biden's one year in office and 365 days of
his disastrous failure at our southern border.Occasionally, GPO makes an error and the byline uses title case rather than all capital letters. One example comes from a 2022 statement by Steven Palazzo. As printed, his surname is in title case rather than all capital letters.
Mr. Palazzo. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to remind the American people
that today marks President Biden's one year in office and 365 days of
his disastrous failure at our southern border. What that really means: We don't like windmills. We don't like to
look at them in Boston Harbor. We don't like offshore wind. We want
windmills built in Oklahoma, and you guys just ship us our electricity
so we can flick on the light.
Ms. Laura Daniels Davis. She has been nominated to be Assistant
Secretary for the Office of Land and Minerals Management. She is
currently in her role already with DOI. In her role in DOI, she has
already made the change that routine permitting decisions that are
typically made in the field to expedite the process of making permits,
those have all been pulled up to her desk in Washington, DC, where they
have slowed down dramatically.
# … statement continues … Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 700, to designate the
facility of the United States Postal Service located at 303 East
Mississippi Avenue in Elwood, Illinois, as the ``Lawrence M. `Larry'
Walsh Sr. Post Office.''
Mr. Larry Walsh Sr. was an American farmer, public servant, and
dedicated member of the Will County community. In 1970, he began his
career in public service as a member of the Elwood School Board. He was
then elected as Jackson Township Supervisor in 1973, where he served
until December 2004. Mr. Walsh also served on the Will County Board in
1974 and 1992.
# … statement continues …75, the Chair, on behalf of the President pro tempore, upon the
recommendation of the Republican Leader, appoints the following
individuals to the United States Commission on International Religious
Freedom:
Mr. Abraham Cooper of California.
Mr. Eric M. Ueland of Oregon.
____________________A comma where the byline's period belongs
An example of the standard format is shown below.
back the balance of my time.
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 2020,
the ``Post-Disaster Assistance Online Accountability Act.''The example below shows a typo where the period is a comma. Representative Sheila Jackson Lee has just been yielded time—the line above is the end of the previous Member's turn—so a new turn genuinely begins here.
back the balance of my time.
Ms. JACKSON LEE, Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 2020,
the ``Post-Disaster Assistance Online Accountability Act.''The same typo appears in the Senate, where Senator Alex Padilla is introducing a bill rather than debating one.
Indian Affairs.
Mr. PADILLA, Mr. President, I rise to introduce the Katimiin and
Ameekyaaraam Sacred Lands Act to place roughly 1,000 acres of sacred
lands currently under Federal ownership into trust for the benefit of
the Karuk Tribe.And again in Extensions of Remarks, in a tribute submitted for the Record rather than spoken on the floor.
Mr. COSTA, Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Nhia Long Vang, a
Major in the Special Guerilla Unit (SGU) Secret War in Laos, a husband,
father, and a beloved community activist in the Central Valley.Mr. Speaker,
Mr. President) or by standard floor language
(I rise, I yield, I ask). That
may not always be present.
A byline with a stray word appended to the surname
An example of the standard format is shown below.
Mr. CLINE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Representative Ben Cline manages a technical-corrections bill under
ordinary Mr. CLINE. bylines throughout this page.
Midway through the debate the Record prints the word
MEMBER where the period belongs.
Mr. CLINE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and
to insert extraneous material on H.R. 3496.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Virginia?
There was no objection.
Mr. CLINE MEMBER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, as was stated, this bill makes technical corrections to
provisions of the code that contain statutory references to title 25 of
the United States Code.Mr. CLINE MEMBER; taken as printed, the surname is
MEMBER. However, no Member of Congress is named Cline
Member. The other Mr. CLINE. bylines on the same page
are printed correctly, so the defect is one statement out of several by
Cline. Printing errors like this can be checked by comparing the
scraped byline name to a list of congressional Members. Since no Member
is named Cline Member this check would fail, an error could be recorded
in a log along with an “Unknown” speaker label, and the typo
could be corrected during validation.
Headings
A heading printed with no blank line above or below it
An example of the standard format is shown below.
Mr. Speaker, I congratulate their team and thank them for sharing
Iowa's story.
Recognizing and Celebrating Adam Zeithamel
Mrs. MILLER-MEEKS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and
An example of this misprinted title layout is the page below from
November 1, 2023. Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks entered
several tributes in sequence. The first four headings have blank
lines above and below them. The fifth,
Congratulating Dennis Lauver, has neither: it follows
immediately on the last line of the Iowa women's basketball remarks,
and her byline follows immediately on the next line.
Mr. Speaker, I thank Coach Bluder for her inspiring leadership behind
this event, and I congratulate the entire University of Iowa women's
basketball team on this incredible milestone. Go Hawks.
Congratulating Dennis Lauver
Mrs. MILLER-MEEKS. Mr. Speaker, I congratulate Dennis Lauver with
Coldwell Banker Howes & Jefferies in Clinton, Iowa, for his 1-year
appointment to the National Association of Realtors Federal Taxation
Committee.
Congratulations, Dennis.A heading printed entirely in lowercase
An example is Representative Earl L. “Buddy” Carter's Extensions of Remarks file of 14 May 2026 (Extensions of Remarks are written statements entered into the Record). Each remark had its own heading. Four of the twenty-one are in lowercase. Two correctly printed headings above them are shown for comparison.
RECOGNIZING GRIFF LYNCH
Mr. CARTER of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize Griff
Lynch for his outstanding service as president and CEO of the Georgia
Ports Authority.
# … tribute continues …
Honoring Life and Legacy of Ted Turner
Mr. CARTER of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the life
and the legacy of Ted Turner, the founder of CNN and a former Savannah
resident.
# … tribute continues …
recognizing the savannah country day school
Mr. CARTER of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the
Savannah Country Day School faculty, staff, and parents' association.
# … tribute continues …
recognizing the port of brunswick
Mr. CARTER of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the
Port of Brunswick for their second year in a row as the busiest
automotive port in the country.
# … tribute continues …recognizing the savannah country day school is stored as
Recognizing the Savannah Country Day School.
A heading with a word misspelled
The first example is from Senator Rand Paul’s tribute to a
Kentucky museum. Here two letters are transposed, so
MUSEUM is spelled as MUSUEM.
WEST KENTUCKY VETERAN AND PATRIOT MUSUEM
Mr. PAUL. Mr. President, stories of the past and the
memorabilia and photos that often accompany them serve many important
purposes in our culture. They can entertain us and provoke laughter and
joy. They can reinforce the values that were important to our parents
and grandparents. And they can teach difficult or even painful lessons
from our history. The West Kentucky Veteran and Patriot Museum, now
celebrating its 10th year, is a place where such stories can be
# … tribute continues …
The second example is from Representative Virginia Foxx of North
Carolina, on April 28, 2022. The first letter of the first word is
dropped, leaving outhern for Southern.
outhern Border Catastrophe Continues
Ms. FOXX. Madam Speaker, our southern border is under siege and
President Biden is asleep at the wheel.
Over 40 illegal aliens on the terror watch list have been arrested at
the southern border since President Biden took office.
# … statement continues …
Two other examples are Representative Terri Sewell of Alabama, on
April 29, 2022, where EXTRAODINARY is printed for
EXTRAORDINARY, and Representative Emanuel Cleaver of
Missouri, on April 18, 2022, where ADVANCE is printed
for ADVANCED in the name of Metropolitan Community
College's Advanced Technical Skills Institute.
Punctuation and paragraphs
A period where a comma belongs, after a form of address
Mr. Speaker is how a Member addresses the presiding
officer of the House. House rules require Members to address the
chair rather than one another, so a statement typically opens with
that address and a comma, then the first words of the statement. In
the Senate the equivalent is
Mr./Mrs./Miss President.
An example of the standard format is shown below.
Trustee and has sung in the choir.
Mr. Speaker, please join me in recognizing Mrs. McKinney for her
dedication to St. Thomas United Methodist Church.
The example below shows a typo where the comma is a period. This is
the closing paragraph of a tribute by Representative Mike Rogers of
Alabama—not the start of anyone's statement. The lowercase
please immediately after is the giveaway that no new
sentence was intended.
Trustee and has sung in the choir.
Mr. Speaker. please join me in recognizing Mrs. McKinney for her
dedication to St. Thomas United Methodist Church.mods.xml as some
parsers do, Mr. Speaker. could be identified as a byline
for a Member named Speaker. An ordinary byline is compared below, so
the confusion is visible. Here the speaker is Representative Jared
Moskowitz.
Mr. [name].
Mr. MOSKOWITZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Lori Baer, the
Executive Director of the Port Everglades Association and port industryA paragraph that ends with no punctuation
Representative Abigail Davis Spanberger's tribute to Mrs. Eileen Thrall parses correctly in every other respect: the title is Honoring Mrs. Eileen Thrall, the member is right, and the 286 words span pages E1036 to E1037. Only the period at the end of the opening paragraph is missing.
Mayor Derrick Wood
HONORING MRS. EILEEN THRALL
HON. ABIGAIL DAVIS SPANBERGER
of virginia
in the house of representatives
Wednesday, November 1, 2023
Ms. SPANBERGER. Mr. Speaker, I rise to congratulate Mrs. Eileen
Thrall on being named Dumfries, Virginia's 2023 Living Legend by Mayor
Derrick Wood
For years, Eileen has served as an exemplary member of the Dumfries
community through her work as a reporter for Potomac News, where she
authored the widely enjoyed Dumfries Community Column.
# … tribute continues …A wrapped line indented as if it began a paragraph
Mr. MOSKOWITZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Lori Baer, the
Executive Director of the Port Everglades Association and port industry
veteran, for her three decades of contributions to the industry.
Lori gained her port experience in the public and private sectors,
holding various distinguished roles. At AECOM, a global engineering and
consulting firm, she held the positions of Vice President and Ports and
Marine Lead for the Americas. She also served as Executive Director of
the Port of Palm Beach. Additionally, she has performed in senior
management positions at the Port of Miami and the Western Hemisphere-
wide American Association of Port Authorities. Lori has dedicated her
career to developing an unmatched expertise in the port industry, which
has served her communities domestically and internationally.
Mr. Speaker, I ask that you join me in recognizing the Executive
Director of the Port Everglades Association, Lori Baer, for her
outstanding career and contributions to the ports of the Western
Hemisphere and Florida's 23rd Congressional District.
An example of this typo appears in Representative Rosa DeLauro's tribute to
Doris “Deb” Biesterfeld Townshend of 6 November 2023. Her
byline opens the statement correctly at indent 2. Continuation lines
that should have been adjusted flush left are indented instead: three
at indent 3 and a fourth at indent 2, none of which begins a new
paragraph. As a side note, one of the mis-indented lines also drops
the space after the period in Avenue.The, so there are
actually two separate defects presented in this example.
Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, today, family, friends, and community
leaders will gather to
# … embedded GPO correction note …
remember one of the City of New Haven's greatest treasures, Doris
``Deb'' Biesterfeld Townshend, who we lost in September of 2020. At the
age of 98, she had lived a full life and passed peacefully at her
cherished, historic Victorian home, known as Raynham, on Townsend
Avenue.The Townshend's family line in New Haven stretches back to
1739, when Jeremiah Townsend of Boston, first settled there. Deb met
# … statement continues …Avenue., mid-address.
Page structure
Stray characters and misspellings in the Extensions header
An example of the standard format is shown below.
HON. <MEMBER NAME>
of <state>
in the house of representativesThe example below shows Illinois with a hyphen printed before the state name, in a tribute by Representative Danny K. Davis.
HON. DANNY K. DAVIS
of -illinois
in the house of representatives
Wednesday, January 12, 2022
Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois. Madam Speaker, life is precious, even
if you live it for only a brief period of time. When you are blessed to
live 110 years, one hundred and ten productive years, and be in
relatively good health, good enough to talk several minutes with a
Congressman who called your daughter to get some information, you are
truly blessed.
# … statement continues …The example below shows Connecticut misspelled, in a tribute by Representative Rosa DeLauro.
HON. ROSA L. DeLAURO
of connecticcut
in the house of representatives
Monday, November 6, 2023
Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, today, family, friends, and community
leaders will gather to
# … statement continues …
remember one of the City of New Haven's greatest treasures, Doris
``Deb'' Biesterfeld Townshend, who we lost in September of 2020. At the
age of 98, she had lived a full life and passed peacefully at her
cherished, historic Victorian home, known as Raynham, on Townsend
Avenue.The example below shows Pennsylvania misspelled, in a tribute by Representative Guy Reschenthaler.
HON. GUY RESCHENTHALER
of p0ennsylvania
in the house of representatives
Friday, November 17, 2023
Mr. RESCHENTHALER. Mr. Speaker, I rise to congratulate Somerset Area
School District for being recognized by the National Association of
Music Merchants (NAMM) Foundation as one of the best communities for
music education in 2023.
The NAMM Foundation celebrates schools and school districts by
recognizing their ability to train and educate the next generation of
musicians.
# … statement continues …A page published with no page number
.htm file, and reprints it throughout the file if the
statement runs more than one page. The same page number also appears
in the file name.
An example of the standard format is shown below.
[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 84 (Tuesday, May 17, 2022)]
[House]
[Page H5076]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office
ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE SPEAKER PRO TEMPORE
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Proceedings will resume on questions
previously postponed.
In our sample of days from 2024 through 2026, we found that on
nineteen House statement files on 17 May 2022 the page number is
missing from both the file name and the file contents. The files are
named
CREC-2022-05-17-pt1-PgHnull.htm
through
CREC-2022-05-17-pt1-PgHnull-19.htm,
with the file name including the literal word
null where the number
belongs. The header reads [Page H] and stops
without identifying the page number, rather than a complete
identifier of the form [Page H5076].
[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 84 (Tuesday, May 17, 2022)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office
DESIGNATION OF SPEAKER PRO TEMPORE
The SPEAKER pro tempore laid before the House the following
communication from the Speaker:
Washington, DC,
May 17, 2022.
I hereby appoint the Honorable Paul Tonko to act as Speaker
pro tempore on this day.
Nancy Pelosi,
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
# … statement continues …null, the failure is logged, and the
file is fixed manually in post-processing.
Metadata
The day’s metadata does not contain a statement’s speaker
.htm and PDF files it publishes for
each statement, GPO also publishes one metadata file,
mods.xml, for each day of the Record. It lists every
statement file of that day with a title, a page range, and the Members
who spoke in it. It also contains a bioGuide ID for each of those
Members, the identifier the Biographical Directory of the United
States Congress assigns them, which stays the same across Congresses
and so names a Member unambiguously however the Record prints them.
In some cases we found that the byline misspells a Member's surname
and mods.xml lists no Member for that statement.
An example of the standard format is shown below. Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi entered a tribute on 28 January 2022, and the byline spells his surname as GPO’s own roster spells it.
RECOGNIZING DR. NASIR AHMED
HON. RAJA KRISHNAMOORTHI
of illinois
in the house of representatives
Friday, January 28, 2022
Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI. Madam Speaker, today I wish to recognize the
seminal contributions of Dr. Nasir Ahmed in the field of computer
# … statement continues …
The snippet from the mods.xml for this statement is
shown below. It names him and gives his bioGuide ID.
<extension>
<searchTitle>RECOGNIZING DR. NASIR AHMED; Congressional Record Vol. 168, No. 18</searchTitle>
<granuleClass>EXTENSIONS</granuleClass>
<accessId>CREC-2022-01-28-pt1-PgE73-4</accessId>
<subGranuleClass>RECOGNIZING</subGranuleClass>
<pagePrefix>E</pagePrefix>
<bookNumber>1</bookNumber>
<chamber>HOUSE</chamber>
<granuleDate>2022-01-28</granuleDate>
<congMember authorityId="2325" bioGuideId="K000391" chamber="H"
congress="117" party="D" role="SPEAKING" state="IL">
<name type="parsed">Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI</name>
<name type="authority-fnf">Raja Krishnamoorthi</name>
<name type="authority-lnf">Krishnamoorthi, Raja</name>
</congMember>
</extension>The example below shows a tribute by the same Member ten weeks later, where the byline misspells his surname.
OBSERVING DISTRACTED DRIVING AWARENESS MONTH
HON. RAJA KRISHNAMOORTHI
of illinois
in the house of representatives
Monday, April 11, 2022
Mr. KIRSHNAMOORTHI. Madam Speaker, I rise today to join thousands of
organizations and individuals around the country in observation of
# … statement continues …
The snippet from the mods.xml for this statement is
shown below. It contains no congMember element, likely
because of the misspelling.
<extension>
<searchTitle>OBSERVING DISTRACTED DRIVING AWARENESS MONTH; Congressional Record Vol. 168, No. 63</searchTitle>
<granuleClass>EXTENSIONS</granuleClass>
<accessId>CREC-2022-04-11-pt1-PgE379-3</accessId>
<subGranuleClass>ALLOTHER</subGranuleClass>
<pagePrefix>E</pagePrefix>
<bookNumber>1</bookNumber>
<chamber>HOUSE</chamber>
<granuleDate>2022-04-11</granuleDate>
</extension>congMember element in that day's mods.xml. A
few examples are below.
-
Representative Nydia Velazquez's surname was printed as
Ms. VALAZQUEZ. -
Representative Betty McCollum's surname was printed as
Ms. McCULLUM. -
Representative Guy Reschenthaler's surname was printed as
Mr. RENSCHENTHALER. -
Representative James Clyburn's surname was printed as
Mr. CLYBRUN. -
Senator Catherine Cortez Masto's surname was printed as
Ms. CORTEZ-MASTO, with a hyphen the name does not have. -
Representative Trent Kelly's state, rather than his surname, was
printed as
Mr. KELLY of Misissippi. -
Representative Steven Palazzo's and Representative Henry Cuellar's
surnames were printed without all capitals, as
Mr. PalazzoandMr. Cuellar, the error catalogued in Printing Error 1.
We also found cases where the byline was spelled correctly but the
statement still has no congMember in that day's
mods.xml. Below is a tribute by Representative Matt Van Epps, whose
byline, header block and surname are all set correctly.
HONORING COLONEL BRENT LINDEMAN
HON. MATT VAN EPPS
of tennessee
in the house of representatives
Wednesday, March 18, 2026
Mr. VAN EPPS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Colonel Brent
Lindeman for his extraordinary service to our Nation and his steadfast
# … statement continues …
The snippet from the mods.xml for this statement is
shown below. It contains no congMember element.
<extension>
<searchTitle>HONORING COLONEL BRENT LINDEMAN; Congressional Record Vol. 172, No. 49</searchTitle>
<granuleClass>EXTENSIONS</granuleClass>
<accessId>CREC-2026-03-18-pt1-PgE229-4</accessId>
<subGranuleClass>HONORING</subGranuleClass>
<pagePrefix>E</pagePrefix>
<bookNumber>1</bookNumber>
<chamber>HOUSE</chamber>
<granuleDate>2026-03-18</granuleDate>
</extension>congMember for him in that
day's mods.xml.
mods.xml. Ten of those bylines are misprinted. The other
nine are printed correctly.
congMember element is an issue if a parser
takes the speaker from mods.xml. Several well-known
Congressional Record parsers do this. The open-source
congressional-record
parser reads the Member names from mods.xml and matches
them against the page. ProPublica's
Capitol Words
parser also takes speaker names from mods.xml. When
mods.xml lists no Member for the statement, those parsers
have no speaker. We do not use mods.xml. We instead parse
the byline directly from the HTML.
KIRSHNAMOORTHI matches no Member, so the
statement is held back from storage in our database, which powers
our frontend UI, and the failure is recorded.
A validation then reports every statement left without a Member, and
an AI agent rereads the source file and repairs the attribution in
post-processing.
Separators
A section divider printed as F_____
GPO uses a centered line of underscores as a visual rule to help differentiate headings from content. This style of separation appears in various places throughout the Record, such as the Senate's Additional Statements section, Extensions of Remarks, and at the close of some House and Senate pages.
Occasionally, GPO misprints the divider and it appears in the
.htm files as the literal text F_____: a
capital F followed by five underscores. In our sample we have
observed just two cases of this printing error. The likeliest
explanation is a decorative print rule that did not survive
conversion to plain text. An example of the standard format is
shown below.
ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS
______
TRIBUTE TO DALE DANNEWITZ
Mr. CRAMER. Madam President, it is an honor to recognize the
On 31 July 2024 the divider printed as F_____ twice on
the same Additional Statements page: before Senator Kevin Cramer's
tribute to Dale Dannewitz, and again after that tribute closed,
before Senator Jon Tester's tribute to Katharine Berkoff.
ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS
F_____
TRIBUTE TO DALE DANNEWITZ
Mr. CRAMER. Madam President, it is an honor to recognize the
nearly half century of distinguished service of a remarkable North
Dakotan who retired this year.
# … tribute continues …
It is people like Dale Dannewitz who have ensured the safe movement
of products and commodities across the continent by rail. On behalf of
all North Dakotans, I thank him for his service and congratulate him on
his well-earned retirement. May you enjoy many years of health and
happiness in the future.
F_____
TRIBUTE TO KATHARINE BERKOFF
Mr. TESTER. Madam President, I rise today to recognize an
outstanding Montanan …F_____, because the line begins with a letter. The token
then rides through as text. It does not match title detection, so it
is stored as the last line of the tribute above it. In this file that
is the closing of Cramer's statement.
Formatting Variations
Part I catalogued cases where GPO printed something wrong. This part documents printing variations that, while not errors per se, can be challenging for a parser if not designed carefully.
These variations include the rare honorific Miss,
surnames with lowercase letters inside them, hyphenated surnames, a middle initial printed inside the byline, a
two-word surname, headings whose
first line is not centered, titles that do not describe the debate
beneath them, editorial notes, page and time markers, and many more.
Bylines
Using Miss as an honorific
Mr., Ms. or
Mrs.. An example of this standard format is shown below.
Mr. PALAZZO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to remind the American people
Occasionally the byline honorific is Miss.
Miss is not an abbreviation, so it has no period. In our
sample every such byline belongs to Resident Commissioner Jenniffer
González-Colón. An example is shown below.
from Puerto Rico (Miss Gonzalez-Colon).
Miss GONZALEZ-COLON. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the approval
in the House of the Senate amendment to H.R. 1192, the Puerto Rico
Recovery Accuracy in Disclosures Act of 2021.Mr. 29,680,
Ms. 6,438, Mrs. 2,799 and Miss
38, so the three common honorifics account for 99.9 percent of
bylines. A parser that accepts only those three honorifics will miss
every statement printed with Miss.
A surname with lowercase letters inside it
McGOVERN, LaMALFA,
LaHOOD, McCLAIN, and
DesJARLAIS.
January 6 Wounds Must Heal
Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished majority whip
for yielding me the time and for his commitment to justice and all
necessary to make this country a better place for everybody.A hyphenated surname
MILLER-MEEKS, GONZALEZ-COLON,
DIAZ-BALART. An example is Representative Mariannette
Miller-Meeks of Iowa.
Mrs. MILLER-MEEKS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the
achievements of several young ladies from my district.A hyphenated surname can also include the lowercase letter from Printing Variation 2. An example is Representative Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick of Florida.
Cherfilus-McCormick), who is our newest Member of Congress.
Mrs. CHERFILUS-McCORMICK. Madam Speaker, I thank Mr. Diaz-Balart for
those kinds words and introduction.CHERFILUS-McCORMICK.
A given name and middle initial printed in the byline
of <State> to tell them apart. An example is
Representative Adam Smith of Washington, who sat alongside Members
named Smith from Missouri, Nebraska and New Jersey.
Mr. SMITH of Washington. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize and
thank Mr. Everett Coleman for his many years of service to the United
States Congress and congratulate him on his retirement.
# … statement continues …When two Members share a surname and a state, the state cannot differentiate them, so the given name and middle initial are printed as well. Representative Carolyn B. Maloney of New York sat at the same time as Representative Sean Patrick Maloney of New York. Both of their bylines are printed with their middle initial present. Carolyn B. Maloney's byline is shown below.
Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York. Madam Speaker, I rise to salute
Marina Letsios, a woman of exemplary work ethic and dedication to our
country.
# … statement continues …Mrs. CAROLYN B and misses the Member.
A surname printed as two words
JACKSON LEE, WASSERMAN SCHULTZ,
LEGER FERNANDEZ, VAN HOLLEN. An example is
Representative Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas.
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of S. 5230, the
``Help Find the Missing Act,'' also known as ``Billy's Law.''
# … statement continues …Headings
A heading whose first line is not centered
.htm file, which is the format our pipeline uses for
parsing. The PDF is set in columns, like a newspaper, and in that
layout a heading is visually distinct because it is centered. All of
that formatting is reproduced in the .htm file, but that
file is plain text and is not set in columns, so the centering arrives
as spaces and a heading can appear at various offsets from the body
margin.
An example of the standard format is shown below. The heading is short
enough that space remains on both sides of the line, which is how
centering appears in the .htm file.
January 6 Wounds Must Heal
______
HON. <MEMBER NAME>
In some cases the heading is long enough that it is indented the same
as body text. The example below is the heading at the top of an
Extensions of Remarks file. The first line of Representative Eleanor
Holmes Norton's bill title is indented two spaces, the same indent as
the first line of a paragraph. That is not a problem for a heading at
the top of a file. It is more of a problem when that indent appears in
title case, deeper in the body of an .htm file. An example
of that is shown next.
INTRODUCTION OF THE FEDERAL POLICE CAMERA AND ACCOUNTABILITY ACT OF
2023
______
HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON
of the district of columbia
in the house of representatives
Monday, February 6, 2023
Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, today, I, along with Representative Donald
S. Beyer, Jr., introduce the Federal Police Camera and Accountability
Act of 2023. This bill would require uniformed federal law enforcement
officers to wear body cameras and marked federal law enforcement
vehicles to have dashboard cameras. It would also require the
# … statement continues …
Representative Claudia Tenney's title-case heading below,
Recognizing Priscilla ``Peep'' Williams for her Athletic and
Academic, is indented at the same level as the first line of
body text.
Recognizing the Life of Joe Fusco, Jr.
Ms. TENNEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the tragic passing
of one of my district's great public servants, the Honorable Joseph
# … tribute continues …
Recognizing Priscilla ``Peep'' Williams for her Athletic and Academic
Achievements
Ms. TENNEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Ms. Priscilla,
also known as Peep, Williams, a standout athlete and student from New.htm files and use other cues like blank space above
and below the title rather than indentation alone.
A section title that does not describe the debate beneath it
Representative Fischbach starts as usual: by direction of the Committee on Rules, she calls up House Resolution 838, the resolution whose title is printed above the debate.
PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 4821, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,
ENVIRONMENT, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2024; PROVIDING
FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 4820, TRANSPORTATION, HOUSING AND URBAN
DEVELOPMENT, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2024; AND
PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 6126, ISRAEL SECURITY SUPPLEMENTAL
APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2024
Mrs. FISCHBACH. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules,
I call up House Resolution 838 and ask for its immediate consideration.
# … statement continues …However, not all of the remarks that follow are about the resolution, or about the more general topic of those appropriations bills. Representative Jim McGovern of Massachusetts instead speaks about delaying aid to Israel.
Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Again, let's make no mistake about it, my Republican friends are
deliberately delaying aid to Israel. They are deliberately delaying aid
to Israel.
# … statement continues …One example is a unanimous consent request. GPO prints those pages with a title that describes the procedure, not the speech. An example is the Senate page of March 30, 2022, where Senator Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin speaks in support of a nominee.
UNANIMOUS CONSENT REQUEST--EXECUTIVE CALENDAR
Ms. BALDWIN. Mr. President, I rise today in support of Jerry Kang,
President Biden's nominee to serve on the National Foundation on the
Arts and Humanities.
# … statement continues …UNANIMOUS CONSENT,
POINT OF ORDER, and PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE.
Baldwin's statement has that kind of title, so we replace it and
store the statement as Support for Jerry Kang Nomination.
Capitals and title case used for headings at the same level
The example below shows both casings on one page. Representative Earl L. “Buddy” Carter's twenty-one tributes of 14 May 2026 are printed with one heading in capitals and sixteen in title case, and each heading opens a separate tribute.
RECOGNIZING GRIFF LYNCH
Mr. CARTER of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize Griff
Lynch for his outstanding service as president and CEO of the Georgia
Ports Authority.
# … tribute continues …
Honoring Life and Legacy of Ted Turner
Mr. CARTER of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the life
and the legacy of Ted Turner, the founder of CNN and a former Savannah
resident.
# … tribute continues …
Honoring the Legacy of William Ligon III
Mr. CARTER of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the
memory and the legacy of William Ligon III. Will tragically passed on
May 3 after a life full of compassion and service to others.
# … tribute continues …Byline lookalikes
Name lists that wrap onto their own line
Mr. COSTA. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Nhia Long Vang, a
# … statement continues …
Some lines have the same form as a byline but are not bylines. One
example is the Additional Sponsors section, which lists each bill
number followed by the Members who signed on as cosponsors. When a
list is too long for one line it wraps, and the name that lands on the new line has the same form as a standard byline. The list for
H.R. 1282 is shown below, where
Mr. Butterfield. begins a line of its own.
H.R. 1219: Ms. Schakowsky.
H.R. 1282: Mr. Smith of New Jersey, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, and
Mr. Butterfield.
H.R. 1579: Ms. Porter.
H.R. 1696: Mr. Doggett.Mr. Butterfield. as a byline: with the leading
whitespace removed, it has the same format as a real byline. We
maintain a list of procedural titles and skip parsing if the title
is on that list. ADDITIONAL SPONSORS is one example of a title on our procedural title list.
A name inside a sentence that happens to start a line
Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, section 36(b) of the Arms Export Control
Act requires that Congress receive prior notification of certain
# … statement continues …
One example of the wrap is a tribute by Representative Rashida
Tlaib of Michigan. A song title lands at the start of a line as
Mr. Postman., which has the same format as a
byline.
Motown one of its biggest hits with their best-known song, ``Please,
Mr. Postman.''
Wanda Young sang lead on many of the Marvelettes' recordings,
including hit songs ``Don't Mess Around with Bill'' and ``I'll Keep
# … statement continues …Mr. Postman. as a byline: it has the same format
as Mr. CARDIN. above. A parser can differentiate
this from a normal byline because the line does not follow the
usual pattern: a period after the name, then the opening of a
statement, such as Mr. Speaker or I rise.
The surname is also matched against our database of Members, as in
Printing Error 12, and no Member is named Postman.
A parenthetical printed above a byline
RECOGNIZING READ ACROSS AMERICA
(Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania asked and was given permission to address
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize
Read Across America Week. On Sunday, we kicked off Read Across America
Day, marking the start of National Reading Month.
# … statement continues …Mr. Speaker.
Layout conventions
An editorial note
An example is Representative Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas, speaking
on 20 January 2022 in support of the Ensuring Veterans' Smooth
Transition Act. After her opening paragraph GPO inserts a note
correcting Mrs JACKSON LEE. to
Ms. JACKSON LEE. The speech then continues.
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I stand here in strong support of H.R.
1836, the Ensuring Veterans' Smooth Transition Act (EVEST), which
provides automatic enrollment in the VA for all transitioning service
members, and veterans who don't want to obtain its services have the
easy choice of opting out.
=========================== NOTE ===========================
January 20, 2022, on page H263, in the third column, the
following appeared: Mrs JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I stand here in
strong support of H.R. 1836, the Ensuring Veterans' Smooth
Transition Act
The online version has been corrected to read: Ms. JACKSON LEE.
Mr. Speaker, I stand here in strong support of H.R. 1836, the
Ensuring Veterans' Smooth Transition Act
========================= END NOTE =========================
Specifically, this bill would:
Automatically enroll new veterans into VA Health Care;
A note can also sit mid-sentence. An example is Representative
Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, in a tribute to Doris “Deb”
Biesterfeld Townshend on 6 November 2023. The sentence opens
leaders will gather to, then the note, then continues
remember one of the City of New Haven's greatest
treasures.
Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, today, family, friends, and community
leaders will gather to
=========================== NOTE ===========================
On November 6, 2023, page E1061, in the second column, the
following appeared: Mr. DELAURO. Mr. Speaker, today, family,
friends, and community leaders will gather to
The online version has been corrected to read: Ms. DELAURO. Mr.
Speaker, today, family, friends, and community leaders will gather
to
========================= END NOTE =========================
remember one of the City of New Haven's greatest treasures, Doris
``Deb'' Biesterfeld Townshend, who we lost in September of 2020.
# … statement continues …NOTE and END NOTE lines are all caps, with
blank lines around them, so a title detector can treat either as a
title. Everything under that title is then stored as the content of a
new statement. A parser that strips the whole note, including the
NOTE and END NOTE lines, before title
detection avoids this.
NOTE … END NOTE
blocks from the page text before the rest of processing runs. If the
text before the block ends a sentence, we leave a paragraph break. If
the block sits mid-sentence, we compress the line breaks to a space,
so will gather to remember reads as one sentence.
Page and time markers printed in the body of a statement
Because the Record is set as a printed version first, and then
transferred to .htm files, GPO adds the pages as an
annotation in the files. GPO marks where a new page begins using
the format [[Page H274]]. These markers appear in the
body of remarks, often between two sentences of the same speech.
Likewise the House and Senate floors keep a running clock, and GPO
marks the time in the format {time} 1215. An example
of each, from the same House file of 20 January 2022, is shown
below.
Mr. CORREA. Mr. Speaker, today we honor the life and memory of Manny
T. Padilla, a leader in our community and my very, very good friend.
[[Page H274]]
Manny served on many boards, commissions, and organizations in Orange
County, and he also served 9 years on the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
of Orange County's Board of Directors.President Trump even promised that he would be the one person to get it
done. But he didn't, not even when Republicans controlled the House,
Senate, and Presidency.
{time} 1215
It was President Biden and this Democratic Congress that finally got
it done even though more than 90 percent of my Republican colleagues
voted against it.