OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Government Reports Elimination Act

Floor Speech

Date: Sept. 16, 2014
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Government Operations

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Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I rise today to discuss the passage of the Government Reports Elimination Act--a bill that will eliminate or modify 53 Congressionally mandated reports.

In 2010, we passed the Government Performance and Results Modernization Act, which added several new reporting requirements for Federal agencies. Too often, we add these new reporting requirements without looking back to see if there are any outdated reports that could be eliminated.

So we asked Federal agencies to identify any duplicative or outdated reports that we could cut. In response, the administration published its first list of more than 300 reports from about 30 agencies and we turned this list into the Government Reports Elimination Act.

Senator Ayotte and I introduced this bill in the Senate and Congressmen Darrell Issa and Gerry Connolly introduced the companion in the House. The final bill will eliminate or modify 53. In doing so, we are removing real barriers to productivity across the government. This represents a real step, albeit a modest one, toward making our government work better.

If these reports are not being used--and are simply collecting dust on a shelf--then they are wasteful, and we cannot afford that kind of waste Eliminating a handful of reports won't solve our budget challenges--but every hour and dollar saved helps. This bill helps free up time for our Federal employees to focus on priorities.

The passage of the Government Reports Elimination Act makes a small down payment on the broader problem, which is why I'm also working on another bill to make further reductions in Congressionally mandated reports.

In June, the administration sent over the second list of outdated reports for
elimination and our new bill will include their recommendations and reflects my ongoing commitment to eliminating these outdated reports.

I wish to thank Senator Ayotte for being my partner on this work. It has been an honor to work with her on our Budget Committee Government Performance Task Force.

I also want to thank Senators Carper and Coburn for their leadership on this issue and advancing this bill through their Committee. Additionally, I would like to thank our other cosponsors, Senators Feinstein and McCaskill for their support.

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