Date: 1995-11-14
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Madam Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker. I rise to support S. In the previous Congresses. this bill would be a typical bill for the Suspension Calendar. It is not controversial and has bipartisan support. including the support of the administration. This bill simply eliminates reports to Congress that have outlived their usefulness. Senator CARL LEvIN of Michigan instituted this bill last session and has been joined in the session by Senator McCAIN. The Federal Report Elimination and Sunset Act of 1995 eliminated over 200 congressionally mandated reports and sunsets most periodic reports authorized before 1982. Over 89 departments and agencies and all committees of the House and Senate were contacted to develop the list of reports to be eliminated. Madam Speaker. to demonstrate why this report elimination bill is important. let me describe just a couple of the reports eliminated or modified. First is a monthly report required from the Secretary of the Treasury on the sales of the World Cup U.S.A. 1994 commemorative coin. The 1994 World Cup was an exciting event in the United States. but I think we could all agree that the monthly reports on a commemorative coin really serve no good. useful purpose. The second example is a 1975 requirement that each agency report annually on its efforts to implement the metric system. I am sure there are those in these and each of the other 200 reports eliminated by this that were valuable at one time when they were written. Continuing to spend the money and time to compile them is not a good use of scarce resources. Again this is a good example. Madam Speaker. of bipartisanshipness on our committee that I would hope we would see on lots of other issues in Congress. In reviewing the legislation. our ranking member. the gentlewoman from Illinois . wrote to each ranking Democrat on all committees and asked them to review the particular bill. She asked them to advise of any reports listed to be eliminated that were useful to them and should. therefore. be kept. The bill incorporates changes by ranking members. the gentleman from Missouri and the gentleman from Indiana . and those suggestions by Secretary Glickman and also the Railroad Retirement Board. The bill is estimated to save over $2 million in costs in printing costs and paperwork. Four years from now most of the remaining congressionally mandated reports. an estimated 3.000. will be sunsetted. The sunset provision will require Congress to decide which reports should be authorized and which should be left behind. Sunset legislation has been successful in a lot of our individual States. and I am glad to see our U.S. Congress again on a bipartisan basis addressing and using sunset to deal with the number of reports and the paperwork that we have. With that. Madam Speaker. I am placing additional comments in the RECORD. Thank you. Madam Speaker. I rise to sup-. port S. 790. In previous Congresses. this bill would be a typical bill for the Suspension Calendar. It is not controversial. and has bipartisan support. including the support of the administration. The bill simply eliminates reports to Congress that have outlived their usefulness. Senator CARL LEVIN of Michigan initiated this bill last session and is joined this year by Senator MCCAIN. The Federal Reports Elimination and Sunset Act of 1995 eliminates almost 200 congressionally mandated reports. and sunsets most periodical reports authorized before 1992. Over 89 Departments and Agencies. and all committees of both the House and the Senate. were contacted to develop the list of reports to be eliminated. Madam Speaker. to demonstrate why this report elimination bill is so important. let me describe just a couple of the reports that would be eliminated or modified. First is a monthly report required from the Secretary of the Treasury on the sales of the World Cup USA 1994 Commemorative Coin. The 1994 World Cup was an exciting event for the United States. but I think we would all agree that monthly reports on a commemorative coin is not a good use of resources. The second example is a 1975 requirement that each agency report annually on its efforts to implement the metric system. Now. I am sure that these and each of the 200 other reports eliminated by this bill were valuable at the time they were written. Continuing to spend money and time to compile them is not a good use of scarce resources. In reviewing this legislation. Mrs. COLLINS wrote to the ranking democrat on each committee and asked them to review the bill. In particular. I asked them to advise if any of the reports listed to be eliminated were useful to them. and therefore should be kept. This bill incorporates the changes suggested by ranking members CLAY and HAMILTON. and those suggested by Secretary Glickman and the Railroad Retirement Board. This bill is estimated to save over $2 million in printing costs and paperwork. Four years from now most of the remaining congressionally mandated reportsestimated at over 3.000--will be sunset. The sunset provision will require Congress to decide which reports should be reauthorized. and which should be left behind. Congressionally mandated reports often serve useful purposes. They are among the oversight tools we use to find out if the intent of the Congress is being followed.. Reports to Congress are as prevalent under the new Republican leadership as they were under Democratic Congresses. For example. the Department of Commerce Dismantling Act. H.R. 1756. which is included in the Housepassed Reconciliation bill. requires four reports to Congress from the Director of OMB. Thats four reports over 3 years just on the process of dismantling the Department of Commerce. Similarly. H.R. 4. the House welfare reform bill written by the Republican leadership. requires a number of reports from the Secretary of Health and Human Services. and still more reports to be filed by each State. This bill. and the Paperwork Reduction Act. show what can be done if we act in a bipartisan way. The Paperwork Reduction Act amendments passed earlier this year sets out a goal of a 10percent reduction in paperwork for each Department. In the future. we would be wise to carefully consider reporting requirements in new legislation to see which reports we can do without. Based upon the recent record of this Congress. it appears that more reports than ever are still being required. Congress must police its own paperwork requirements as vigilantly as we expect the administration to curtail its demands on the public. This bill represents a good first step in this process. and I urge my colleagues to support this bill.