Mark Kelly: “I rise today in strong and enthusiastic support of H.R. 852, the Paperwork Elimination Act of 1997. This is important…”

“I rise today in strong and enthusiastic support of H.R. 852, the Paperwork Elimination Act of 1997. This is important legislation that will assist in the process of lowering the paperwork burden that the Federal Government places on small businesses throughout this country, and will facilitate Federal agencies' efforts to fulfill their requirements under the Paperwork Reduction Act. We all know that the Federal Government places an enormous paperwork burden on small business owners. The amount of forms that it requires to be maintained or submitted is staggering. One study that was conducted by the General Accounting Office estimates the Government-wide paperwork burden to be 7 billion hours per year. Because of this burden that it creates, the Federal Government has an obligation to make compliance with these demands as easy and straightforward as possible. That is what the Paperwork Elimination Act is designed to address. It simply states that the Federal Government should recognize the advancements in information technology management that have been made in recent years, and allow small business owners to utilize them when meeting the demands that the Government makes.”