Nearly 200 of the more than 3,000 reports federal agencies must submit to Congress each year would be eliminated under a bill introduced in the Senate earlier this month.
Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Carl Levin, D-Mich., introduced the Federal Reports Elimination Act (S. 1364) to get rid of 186 reports that agencies say are unnecessary, wasteful or redundant.
"This proposal is intended to combat the growing problem of the thousands of mandatory reports that Congress has been imposing upon the executive branch over the last decade," McCain said upon introducing the measure. "Not only do they cost American taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars each year, but they exhaust the often limited resources of the federal agencies which have to meet these reporting requirements."
Reports slated for the cutting board include the "Report on the Elimination of Notice to Congress Regarding Waiver of Requirement for Use of Vegetable Ink in Lithographic Printing," "Report on Vibration Reduction Technologies," and "Report on Size and Condition of the Tule Elk Herd in California."
The Clinton administration originally targeted more than 400 reports it deemed unnecessary, but that number was whittled down by congressional committee heads.
Some reports are required for programs that have never been funded. For example, the National Advisory Commission on Resource Conservation and Recovery for the Environmental Protection Agency is required to provide interim reports on its activities, even though it has never met or received funding since it was established in 1981. The Transportation Department is supposed to report on a study of the effects of climatic conditions on the cost of highway construction and maintenance, although it has never received funding for the study.
Hundreds of congressionally mandated reports were eliminated in similar bills passed in 1980, 1982, 1986 and 1995. But the reductions have not kept up with new reporting requirements. GAO estimates Congress imposes 300 new reports on the executive branch each year. The number of reports has risen from 750 in 1970 to well over 3,000 today.
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