Eliminate Useless Reports Act of 2024

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5301, the Eliminate Useless Reports Act. I thank my distinguished colleague from California, the ranking member of the Oversight and Accountability Committee, Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs, Mr. Garcia for introducing H.R. 5301. I am proud to support this legislation.

Mr. ROBERT GARCIA of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to support this commonsense bipartisan bill, the Eliminate Useless Reports Act, and I thank my co-lead, Representative Grothman from Wisconsin, for all his work and support.

This bill is very simple. Congress, as we know, frequently requires that Federal agencies provide reports on various topics and issues. These reports provide Congress with important information, and we couldn't do our jobs without them.

However, drafting these reports often takes lots of time and resources.

Under this bill, every year, when agencies report their budget requests, they will also send a list of any congressional reports they believe that are outdated or duplicative. They can recommend that we sunset, modify, or consolidate these reports.

We, in Congress, are unable to actually decide what is needed. When I was mayor of Long Beach, I worked to cut red tape so we could support small businesses and develop more housing where we needed it most. In Congress, this is a bipartisan way to pursue that same goal which is cutting the red tape.

I thank the Senate leads on this bill, Senators Ossoff and Lankford. Finally, I will point out the bill has already passed the House once by voice vote. Now we just need to pass it again as the previous bill was adopted as a vehicle for separate legislation in the Senate.

Today, I hope we pass this back to the Senate so it can again be agreed upon by unanimous consent and send it to the President's desk. I urge everyone to vote for this legislation.

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Mr. RASKIN. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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