Matthew Russell: “The fiscal year 2017 Legislative Branch Appropriations Act contains several excellent provisions to cut down on…”

“The fiscal year 2017 Legislative Branch Appropriations Act contains several excellent provisions to cut down on unnecessary printing of paper documents in the House of Representatives. Section 102 of the act, for example, prohibits printed copies of bills from being sent to Members of Congress unless they specifically request them. This amendment is very similar. It prohibits the Federal Register from being sent to Members unless they specifically request it. It uses the exact same terminology as section 102. The Federal Register, while important because it contains rules, proposals, and various other publications released by Federal agencies, unfortunately every business day Members of Congress receive paper copies of this Register, while it is available online and queryable. Sadly, most of these hundreds of pages in length end up in the waste bin. The Federal Register, being available online, is a better way to go with this measure. The Government Printing Office sends 617 copies of the Register every single day to House Members alone. This includes subscriptions for personal offices, committees, archival offices, and others. Each annual subscription costs the Government Printing Office $750 a year to produce in paper and ink alone. These costs are charged to Federal agencies that publish in the Federal Register.…”