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Press Release Published: Nov 13, 2014

Reps. Issa, Connolly and Sens. Warner, Ayotte Applaud House Vote to Eliminate or Modify 50 Unnecessary Federal Reports

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA), Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA), and Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) and Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) applauded final passage of the Government Reports Elimination Act (H.R. 4194), that eliminates or modifies unnecessary, outdated, or duplicative reports currently required to be generated by more than a dozen federal agencies. The bill approved yesterday originated in the House and cleared the Senate in amended form on September 16th. Yesterday’s House approval sends the bipartisan legislation to the President to be signed into law. The House legislation was introduced by Rep. Issa and Rep. Connolly; Sen. Warner and Sen. Ayotte sponsored Senate companion legislation.

Among the reports to be eliminated under the legislation: A Department of Homeland Security annual report on illegal imports of products made with dog or cat fur, and a Department of Agriculture report on the number of acres of peanuts planted each year.

“The Government Reports Elimination Act reduces waste and duplication in the federal government by eliminating or streamlining 53 unnecessary government reports, said Chairman Issa. “I would especially like to thank Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) and Rep. Rob Woodall (R-GA), who were original House cosponsors of this bill. This bipartisan reform is a commonsense step in the right direction, reducing duplicative or outdated reports to save taxpayers money.”

“In today’s challenging fiscal environment, Congress must leverage every opportunity to save taxpayer dollars by streamlining or eliminating antiquated reporting requirements that are duplicative, irrelevant, or simply ignored,” said Rep. Connolly, Ranking Member of the Government Operations Subcommittee. “While enacting the bipartisan Government Reports Elimination Act may not go as far as we would like, it nevertheless represents precisely the type of pragmatic, good government legislating that a divided Congress should be doing more of. The bottom line is that once signed into law, our bipartisan bill will make meaningful progress in freeing up precious agency resources to ensure that taxpayer funds are devoted to truly mission-critical operations.”

“Eliminating or modifying these outdated and often useless reports is a simple but effective step towards cutting waste and improving efficiency in the federal government,” Sen. Warner said. “Hundreds of federal employees spend countless hours producing mountains of these reports each year, and in many cases no one ever reads or even refers to those reports. Surely these agency resources could be targeted to smarter, more productive efforts that will actually provide more direct benefit to customers and taxpayers.”

“The elimination of 50 government reports is a positive first step toward making government smaller and smarter, and there are additional areas where we can achieve savings,” said Senator Ayotte. “I’ll continue my efforts to reduce unnecessary government reports, and to protect taxpayers by eliminating duplication and waste in federal programs and making government more efficient.”