II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 477 

To limit Government printing costs, Government travel costs, and Federal 

vehicle costs. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 3, 2011 

Mr. PRYOR introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To limit Government printing costs, Government travel costs, 

and Federal vehicle costs. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Government Excess 

5 Prevention Act of 2011’’. 

6 SEC. 2. LIMITATION ON GOVERNMENT PRINTING COSTS. 

7 Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment 

8 of this Act, the Director of the Office of Management and 

9 Budget shall coordinate with the heads of Federal depart10 ments and independent agencies to— 


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1 (1) determine which Government publications 

2 could be available on Government websites and no 

3 longer printed and to devise a strategy to reduce 

4 overall Government printing costs over the 10-year 

5 period beginning with fiscal year 2012, except that 

6 the Director shall ensure that essential printed docu7 ments prepared for Social Security recipients, Medi8 care beneficiaries, and other populations in areas 

9 with limited Internet access or use continue to re10 main available; 

11 (2) establish government-wide Federal guide12 lines on employee printing; 

13 (3) issue on the Office of Management and 

14 Budget’s public website the results of a cost-benefit 

15 analysis on implementing a digital signature system 

16 and on establishing employee printing identification 

17 systems, such as the use of individual employee 

18 cards or codes, to monitor the amount of printing 

19 done by Federal employees; except that the Director 

20 of the Office of Management and Budget shall en21 sure that Federal employee printing costs unrelated 

22 to national defense, homeland security, border secu23 rity, national disasters, and other emergencies do 

24 not exceed $860,000,000 annually; and 


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1 (4) issue guidelines requiring every department, 

2 agency, commission, or office to list at a prominent 

3 place near the beginning of each publication distrib4 uted to the public and issued or paid for by the Fed5 eral Government— 

6 (A) the name of the issuing agency, de7 partment, commission, or office; 

8 (B) the total number of copies of the docu9 ment printed; 

10 (C) the collective cost of producing and 

11 printing all of the copies of the document; and 

12 (D) the name of the firm publishing the 

13 document. 

14 SEC. 3. LIMITATION OF GOVERNMENT TRAVEL COSTS. 

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi16 sion of law, the total amount which is paid or reimbursed 

17 by an agency under subchapter I of chapter 57 of title 

18 5, United States Code (relating to travel and subsistence 

19 expenses; mileage allowances for official travel by Federal 

20 employees) may not, for any of the 5 fiscal years beginning 

21 after the date of enactment of this Act, exceed 50 percent 

22 of the total amount so paid or reimbursed by such agency 

23 for the fiscal year in which such date of enactment occurs. 


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1 (b) EXCEPTIONS.—For purposes of carrying out sub2 section (a), there shall not be taken into account the 

3 amounts paid or reimbursed for— 

4 (1) any subsistence or travel expenses for 

5 threatened law enforcement personnel, as described 

6 in section 5706a of title 5, United States Code; or 

7 (2) any other expenses for which an exception 

8 is established under subsection (c) for reasons relat9 ing to national security or public safety. 

10 (c) REGULATIONS.—Any regulations necessary to 

11 carry out this section shall, in consultation with the Direc12 tor of the Office of Management and Budget, be pre13 scribed by the same respective authorities as are respon14 sible for prescribing regulations under section 5707 of title 

15 5, United States Code. 

16 SEC. 4. REDUCTION IN FEDERAL VEHICLE COSTS. 

17 Notwithstanding any other provision of law— 

18 (1) of the amounts made available to the Gen19 eral Services Administration for the acquisition of 

20 new vehicles for the Federal fleet for fiscal year 

21 2011 and remaining unobligated as of the date of 

22 enactment of this Act, an amount equal to 20 per23 cent of all such amounts is rescinded; 

24 (2) for fiscal year 2012 and each fiscal year 

25 thereafter— 


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1 (A) the amount made available to the Gen2 eral Services Administration for the acquisition 

3 of new vehicles for the Federal fleet shall not 

4 exceed an amount equal to 80 percent of the 

5 amount made available for the acquisition of 

6 those vehicles for fiscal year 2011 (before appli7 cation of paragraph (1)); and 

8 (B) the number of new vehicles acquired 

9 by the General Services Administration for the 

10 Federal fleet shall not exceed a number equal to 

11 50 percent of the vehicles so acquired for fiscal 

12 year 2011; and 

13 (3) any amounts made available under the 

14 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 

15 (Public Law 111–5) for the acquisition of new vehi16 cles for the Federal fleet shall be disregarded for 

17 purposes of determining the baseline. 

Æ 


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