Marty Walsh: “Mr. Chairman, the gentleman's amendment reduces the FTE staff level at the Government Printing Office from 3,550 to…”

“Mr. Chairman, the gentleman's amendment reduces the FTE staff level at the Government Printing Office from 3,550 to 3,200. GPO is currently staffed at a level of 3,600. This amendment will require a reduction in force. Even though the GPO continues to lose money at a rate of about $1 million a month, their costs remain high. They tell us that is because they have to maintain a capability to do the daily job of printing the Congressional Record, our hearings, bills, reports and other congressional documents. The long-run solution to this problem is a rewrite of the printing statutes. The Government Printing Office needs to have their mission reevaluated. The Executive Branch and the Legislative Branch are using modern desk-top publishing technologies and withdrawing much of their work from the printing plant. The situation cries out for a more substantive solution than annual limitations on their workforce. With that caveat, I will accept this amendment, but I want to stress that we need help from the authorizing committees on this matter.”