'Let Me Google That For You,' Ayotte and McCaskill Offer, With Bill to Abolish Federal Agency
Press Release
U.S. Senators Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) and Claire McCaskill (D-MO) today announced the reintroduction of a bipartisan bill that would abolish the federal National Technical Information Service, an outdated agency that has lost more than $1 million in taxpayer money per year over 10 years trying to sell government reports that are mostly available online for free. With a money-losing profit model, the agency attempts to sell government reports to other federal agencies and the public, most of which are otherwise available for free and easy to find using a simple Internet search.
"Every year, the federal government wastes more than a million dollars on this obsolete federal agency that operates primarily to disseminate government reports that are free and readily available to the public," said Ayotte. "As we look for ways to address our $18 trillion debt and find cost savings across government, there's no justification for continuing to fund an agency whose mission is no longer necessary."
In 2013, the Government Accountability Office highlighted NTIS' operations, in its annual duplication report, finding, "Of the reports added to NTIS's repository during fiscal years 1990 through 2011 ... approximately 74 percent were readily available from other public sources." Meanwhile, from 1995 to 2000, the office sold only 8 percent of the 2.5 million reports in its repertoire. NTIS has lost on average at least $1.3 million per year over the last 11 years, running a deficit on its document production for nearly a decade.
Ayotte is cosponsoring several additional proposals that would help eliminate waste and duplication across the federal government. Earlier this year she reintroduced the bipartisan Duplication Elimination Act, which would save billions of taxpayer dollars by requiring Congress and the Administration to implement recommendations outlined in the Government Accountability Office's Annual Report on Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication. She is also a cosponsor of the Taxpayers Right to Know Act, which would require federal agencies to provide an annual "report card" of all federal programs, how they perform, and their cost-effectiveness.
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