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A "Dear Colleague" letter is official correspondence that is sent by a Member, committee, or officer of the United States House of Representatives or United States Senate and that is distributed in bulk to other congressional offices.〔U.S. Congress, House, Office of the Chief Administrative Officer, HouseSmart: Reference Guide to Information and Services, 109th Cong., 1st sess. (Washington: 2005), p. 29. (Hereafter HouseSmart.)〕 A "Dear Colleague" letter may be circulated in paper form through internal mail, distributed on a chamber floor, or sent electronically.〔Internal mail circulation is handled by the House Postal Operations Office and the Senate Printing Graphics and Direct Mail Division. Electronic distribution of House "Dear Colleague" letters is available through a web-based e-"Dear Colleague" distribution system. Instructions on sending electronic "Dear Colleagues" can be found at http://e-dearcolleague.house.gov. The e-"Dear Colleague" website is available only to Members of the House of Representatives and their staff.〕 "Dear Colleague" letters are often used to encourage others to cosponsor, support, or oppose a bill. "Dear Colleague" letters concerning a bill or resolution generally include a description of the legislation or other subject matter along with a reason or reasons for support or opposition.〔"`Dear Colleague' Letters," Congressional Quarterly's Guide to Congress, 2 vols. (Washington: Congressional Quarterly, Inc., 2000), p. 645; and Abner J. Mikva and Patti B. Saris, The American Congress: The First Branch (New York: Franklin Watts, 1983), p. 203. See also Susan Webb Hammond, Congressional Caucuses in National Policy Making (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998), pp. 90, 94, 128, 167, 175, 184, and 215.〕 Senders or signatories of such letters become identified with the particular issue. "Dear Colleague" letters can also create an "unofficial link" in the Capitol Hill information chain.〔Donald A. Ritchie, "`Dear Colleague' letters," The Young Oxford Companion to the Congress of the United States (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), p. 67.〕 Additionally, "Dear Colleague" letters are used to inform Members and their offices about events connected to congressional business or modifications to House or Senate operations. The Committee on House Administration and the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, for example, routinely circulate "Dear Colleague" letters to Members concerning matters that affect House or Senate operations, such as House changes to computer password policies〔Dear Colleague letter from Daniel Beard, chief administrative officer of the House, "Computer Password Protection Update," Aug. 22, 2008.〕 or a reminder about Senate restrictions on mass mailings prior to elections.〔Dear Colleague letter from Senator Dianne Feinstein, chair, and Senator Robert Bennett, ranking member, Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, July 30, 2008.〕 These letters frequently begin with the salutation "Dear Colleague." The length of such correspondence varies, with a typical "Dear Colleague" running one to two pages.〔Walter Kravitz, Congressional Quarterly's American Congressional Dictionary, 3rd ed. (Washington: CQ Press, 2001), p. 75.〕 ==Development== Member-to-Member correspondence has long been used in Congress. For example, since early House rules required measures to be introduced only in a manner involving the "explicit approval of the full chamber," Representatives needed permission to introduce legislation.〔The power to introduce a bill was not regarded as the authority of any single Member. See Joseph Cooper, "Origins of the Standing Committees and the Development of the Modern House," Rice University Studies, vol. 56, summer 1970, p. 3.〕 A not uncommon communication medium for soliciting support for this action was a letter to colleagues. Representative Abraham Lincoln, in 1849, formally notified his colleagues in writing that he intended to seek their authorization to introduce a bill to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia.〔Neil MacNeil, Forge of Democracy: The House of Representatives (New York: David McKay Company Inc., 1963), pp. 57-58.〕 The phrase "Dear Colleague" has been used to refer to a widely distributed letter among Members at least since early in the 20th century. In 1913, the New York Times included the text of a "Dear Colleague" letter written by Representative Finley H. Gray to Representative Robert N. Page in which Gray outlined his "conceptions of a fit and proper manner" in which Members of the House should "show their respect for the President" and "express their well wishes" to the first family.〔"Discord in House over Wilson Gift," The New York Times, Oct. 31, 1913, p. 10.〕 In 1916, the Washington Post included the text of a "Dear Colleague" letter written by Representative William P. Borland and distributed to colleagues on the House floor. The letter provided an explanation of an amendment he had offered to a House bill.〔"Hears Borland Today," The Washington Post, Mar. 14, 1916, p. 5.〕 Congress has since expanded its use of the Internet and electronic devices to facilitate distribution of legislative documents.〔CRS Report RL31103, House of Representatives Information Technology Management Issues: An Overview of the Effects on Institutional Operations, the Legislative Process, and Future Planning, by Jeffrey W. Seifert and R. Eric Petersen.〕 Electronic "Dear Colleague" letters can be disseminated via internal networks in the House and Senate, supplementing or supplanting paper forms of the letters. Such electronic communication has increased the speed and facilitated the process of distributing "Dear Colleague" letters. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Dear colleague letter (United States)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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