Record Group 4: Legislative Files, 1985 - 1998

The Legislative Files (Record Group 4) constitute the bulk of the Congressional Papers collection. The Bill Files, 1985-1998, contain materials relating to consideration and passage of bills in the House of Representatives. These files are arranged chronologically by Congress and then numerically within the type of legislation. The Bill Files cover a wide range of topics that sometimes overlap, or even duplicate, materials found in the Committees' and Issues Files. The materials concerning the Education and Labor Committee were separated into two subseries: Education Files, 1985-1998 and Labor Files, 1985-1998. A small amount that could not be separated because the records pertained to the committee rather than the legislation, resulted in the series, Education and Labor Committee Files, 1991-1997. The Education Files, 1985-1998, reflect the broad scope of the Committee's work on education, including elementary, secondary, vocational, and higher education issues; child nutrition programs; juvenile crime prevention; and welfare reforms. The Labor Files, 1985-1998, cover the gamut of issues relating to workforce regulations. Congressman Fawell served on the Subcommittee on Workforce Protections and chaired the Subcommittee on Employer-Employee Relations. This series reflects Fawell's role as a leading authority on the ERISA statute that regulates employee retirement and health care benefits. Other topics include the passage of the Civil Rights Act, Family and Medical Leave Act, National Labor Relations Board decisions, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and union recruitment practices. Both the Education Files and Labor Files include analyses by Congressman Fawell and office and committee legislative staff, mailings to and from other Congressional offices, external research and opinions, correspondence with government officials, and newspaper and journal articles. The Issues Files, 1987-1998, were created for legislation which did not fall under either committee, but in which the congressman was interested. Topics include the Abandoned Babies Act (which sought to decrease the amount of time between the abandonment of a newborn and the beginnings of adoption proceedings), abortion, environment, foreign affairs, trade agreements, and transportation. A subseries of the Issues Files is the Porkbusters Files, 1974-1998 (bulk 1990-1995). The Porkbusters Coalition was a bi-partisan congressional group co-founded by Congressman Fawell in 1991 that sought to identify and cut spending on frivolous and/or unapproved project spending (commonly called "Pork"). The files are arranged chronologically by Congress number. Subjects found within the records of each Congress include: most federal agency appropriations bills, balancing the federal budget, deficit reduction, rescission packages, and science pork projects. Both the Issues Files and the Porkbusters Files include analyses by Congressman Fawell and office and committee legislative staff, mailings to and from other Congressional offices, external research and opinions, correspondence with government officials, and newspaper and journal articles. The Science Committee Files, 1985-1998, contain materials used by Congressman Fawell and his legislative staff in examining legislation passing through the Science Committee. Topics include Argonne National Laboratory and its Electrometallurgical Treatment Program and Integral Fast Reactor; the U.S. Department of Energy; National Aeronautics and Space Administration; space station development; and the Superconducting Super Collider. The materials include memoranda and notes, newspaper and journal articles, publicity information from labs and agencies, bills, committee reports, mailings to and from other Congressional offices, and correspondence with the scientific community. The Select Committee on Aging Files, 1986-1992, contain materials pertaining to aging and the elderly for the time period this committee existed while Congressman Fawell was in office. Materials outside of this particular time period may be found in the Issues Files, 1987-1998, as Congressman Fawell's interest did not wane with the committee's end. The bulk of this series concerns the passage and repeal of the Catastrophic Coverage Act. The Voting Record Files, 1985-1998, consist of voting compilations received from the Clerk of the House of Representatives. The three different documents were maintained by the Congressman's office, the Legislative Activity Guide, Legislative Profiles, and the Statistical Summary of Votes are represented within the series.