Mark Kelly: “Mr. Speaker, today the House considers H.R. 439, the Paperwork Elimination Act of 1999. This is legislation that is not…”

“Mr. Speaker, today the House considers H.R. 439, the Paperwork Elimination Act of 1999. This is legislation that is not new to the House. In both the 104th Congress and the 105th Congress virtually identical legislation was considered and overwhelmingly passed. In the 104th Congress, the House passed this bill by a vote of 418 to zero. In the 105th Congress, the House passed this bill by a vote of 395 to zero. I certainly hope we can continue this trend this afternoon. Mr. Speaker, paperwork burdens are literally strangling the productivity of our Nation's economy, particularly small businesses. Consider the fact that in 1996 the government-wide burden hour estimate reached 6.7 billion hours. That means that Americans spent 6.7 billion, that is 'billion' with a 'B', filling out paperwork required by the Federal Government. That figure is up almost 350 percent from the 1.5 billion burden hour estimate in 1980.”