Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2017

Floor Speech

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Mr. GOSAR. Madam Chairman, I rise today to offer a commonsense amendment that will prevent wasteful spending in this bill and the unsolicited delivery of printed copies of the House telephone directory to 435 House congressional offices.

I hold here the United States House of Representatives Telephone Directory for 2016. This book, printed by the Government Publishing Office, contains 378 pages of names, addresses, and the contact information for Members of Congress and their staffs. While the Clerk of the House does get a deal from the GPO on these printing costs, this directory is sold to the public online at a cost of $52 per book. GPO stated that 14,080 copies of this directory were sent this year to the House Postal Operations for delivery.

This year, all 435 House Member offices received this stack--this whole stack right here--unsolicited from the Office of the Clerk, 20 copies, total, for each office.

Each year we get this directory and, to be frank, it is not needed. All the information contained within these pages is readily available online, both publicly and through House Web sites.

To make matters worse, often, the information contained is out of date by the time we receive these bound copies. For example, by the time I received my 20 copies of this directory, the information listed for my staff was no longer current.

According to a CRS report from 2011, approximately 97 percent of all government documents originate in digital form and are distributed electronically but are not printed. This same CRS report estimated that it costs Congress about $134 per page for prepress costs for miscellaneous publications, of which this directory is one.

Madam Chairman, I don't think I need to remind anyone here that we are currently $19 trillion-plus in debt as a result of excessive and unnecessary spending. I will be the first to admit that this amendment will not be saving millions of dollars this year alone, but in a time of such financial crisis, we should remain vigilant and save every penny we can.

This book is unnecessary, and its unsolicited distribution en masse is excessive. Why does each D.C. office get 20 unsolicited copies? My D.C. office only has eight employees, none of which utilize these wasteful directories.

I ask my colleagues to support this commonsense amendment that will save precious taxpayer money and prevent future unsolicited deliveries of this directory in every single House office on the Hill.

I thank the distinguished chair and ranking member for their work on this bill.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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Mr. GOSAR. Madam Chairman, I rise today to offer another commonsense amendment that will prevent wasteful spending in this bill by preventing the delivery of this packet of nearly 2,000 pages containing the President's budget request to 435 House congressional offices.

In its 2017 budget justification, the Government Publishing Office states: ``Since 2012, GPO has made the annual Budget of the U.S. Government available as a mobile app. The FY 2016 Budget app, released in January of 2015, provided users with access to the text and images of the Budget, including the Budget Message of the President, information on the President's priorities, and budget overviews organized by agency. This app provides links to GPO's FDsys where summary tables and additional books of the Budget, including the Analytical Perspectives, Appendix, and Historical Tables, are available.''

This package, which contains the President's budget, analytical perspectives of the budget, and the appendix of the budget are all available on an app for your phone for free. Furthermore, all three are available in their entirety online at www.whitehouse.gov/omb/, where they are more easily searchable.

While the Office of Management and Budget does get a great deal from GPO on printing costs, each individual copy sells online for $38, $56, and $79, respectively. These documents comprise 170 pages, 409 pages, and 1,413 pages, respectively. OMB orders one copy of the budget for all 435 Members of the House, and this publication is then printed by the Government Publishing Office and delivered by House Postal Operations.

In a time when our Nation is facing a fiscal crisis and has a $19 trillion-plus debt as a result of excessive and unnecessary spending, we should not be squandering more money printing nearly 2,000 pages of the President's budget that most Members throw in the trash, recycle, or don't even open.

Furthermore, this massive document is not even a serious proposal and has been routinely rejected with strong bipartisan support. The Senate defeated President Obama's budget by a vote of 97-0 for fiscal year 2011, 99-0 in fiscal year 2012, and 98-1 last year.

Again, I will be the first one to admit that this amendment will not save millions of dollars this year alone, but, in a time of such fiscal crisis, we should remember the old adage that a penny saved is a penny earned.

The printing and distribution of the President's budget to 435 House offices is excessive. I ask my colleagues to support this commonsense amendment, and we will save precious taxpayer money and prevent future mass deliveries. Again, all these publications are online in their entirely, where they are more easily searchable, and they are also on a free mobile app.

I thank the distinguished chair and ranking member for their work on this bill.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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