[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 41 (Monday, March 6, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3516-S3518]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT

  The Senate continued with consideration of the bill.


                           Amendment No. 318

 (Purpose: To provide for the termination of reporting requirements of 
  certain executive reports submitted to the Congress, and for other 
                               purposes)

  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk and ask 
for its immediate consideration.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from Arizona [Mr. McCain] proposes an amendment 
     numbered 318.

  Mr. McCAIN.  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that reading of 
the amendment be dispensed with.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The amendment is as follows:
       At the end of the pending measure, add the following new 
     section:

     SEC.   . TERMINATION OF REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.

       (a) Termination.--
       (1) In general.--Subject to the provisions of paragraph 
     (2), each provision of law requiring the submittal to 
     Congress (or any committee of the Congress) of any report 
     specified in the list described under subsection (c) shall 
     cease to be effective, with respect to that requirement, 5 
     years after the date of the enactment of this Act.
       (2) Exception.--The provisions of paragraph (1) shall not 
     apply to any report required under--
       (A) The Inspector General Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.; 
     Public Law 95-452); or
       (B) the Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990 (Public Law 
     101-576).
       (b) Identification of Wasteful Reports.--The President 
     shall include in the first annual budget submitted pursuant 
     to section 1105 of title 31, United States Code, after the 
     date of enactment of this Act a list of reports that the 
     President has determined are unnecessary or wasteful and the 
     reasons for such determination.
       (c) List of Reports.--The list referred to under subsection 
     (a) is the list prepared by the Clerk of the House of 
     Representatives of the first session of the 103d Congress 
     under clause 2 of rule III of the Rules of the House of 
     Representatives.

  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, this amendment is based on S. 233, the 
Reporting Requirements Sunset Act of 1995. The amendment would sunset 
all congressionally mandated reports after 5 years except those 
required by the Inspector General Act and the Chief Financial Officers 
Act.
  The objective of the amendment, Mr. President, is very clear. It is 
to alleviate the massive costs to taxpayers and the huge burdens 
Congress has placed upon Federal agencies with statutory reporting 
requirements.
  Let me repeat, Mr. President, this amendment calls for sunset of all 
congressionally required, mandated reports in 5 years. It does not 
require that those congressionally mandated reports be ended 
immediately. These reports, many of which are very important to keep 
the Congress informed as to the activities of the executive branch of 
Government, can be reauthorized and probably should be reauthorized. 
But what I am seeking here is simply a sunset of all these reports over 
a 5-year period.
  Now, Mr. President, I use as my source no less an important person 
than the Vice President of the United States. When sending his report 
to the Congress, called ``Creating a Government That Works Better and 
Costs Less, Report of the National Performance Review,'' by Vice 
President Al Gore, on September 7, 1993, he said:
       Action: Reduce the burden of congressionally mandated 
     reports.
       Woodrow Wilson was right. Our country's 28th president once 
     wrote that ``there is no distincter tendency in congressional 
     history than the tendency to subject even the details of 
     administration'' to constant congressional supervision.
       One place to start in liberating agencies from 
     congressional micromanagement is the issue of reporting 
     requirements. Over the past decades, we have thrown layer 
     upon layer of reporting requirements on federal agencies, 
     creating an almost endless series of required audits, 
     reports, and exhibits.
       Today the annual calendar is jammed with report deadlines. 
     On August 31 of each year, the Chief Financial Officers (CFO) 
     Act requires that agencies file a 5-year financial plan and a 
     CFO annual report. On September 1, budget exhibits for 
     financial management activities and high risk areas are due.

  He goes on to say:

       In fiscal year 1993, Congress required executive branch 
     agencies to prepare 5,348 reports. Much of this work is 
     duplicative. And because there are so many different sources 
     of information, not one gets an integrated view of an 
     agency's condition--least of all the agency manager who needs 
     accurate and up to date numbers. Meanwhile, trapped in this 
     blizzard of paperwork, no one is looking at results.
       We propose to consolidate and simplify reporting 
     requirements, and to redesign them so that the manager will 
     have a clear picture of the agency's financial condition, the 
     condition of individual programs, and the extent to which the 
     agency is meeting its objectives. We will ask Congress to 
     pass legislation granting OMB the flexibility to consolidate 
     and simplify statutory reports and establishing a sunset 
     provision in any reporting requirement adopted by Congress in 
     the future.
  That is the recommendation of the Vice President.
  Mr. President, some Americans might be interested to know some of the 
requirements, some of the reports that are required, which have been 
mandated by the Congress to be submitted to Congress every year:
  ``Transportation, Sale, and Handling of animals for research and 
pets.'' That is a report which is required annually.
  ``Effects of Changes in the Stratosphere Upon Animals.'' That is only 
required every 2 years.
  ``U.S.-Japan Cooperative Medical Science Program.'' That is an annual 
report.
  ``Operation of Mobile Trade Fairs.'' That is an annual report 
required, mandated by the Congress.
  ``Studies of the Striped Bass.'' That is an annual report.
  ``Number of Customs Service Undercover Operations Commenced, Pending, 
and Closed''; an annual report.
  ``Monitoring of the Stratosphere''; that is biennially.
  ``Effectiveness of Ice Control Programs on the Kankakee River in 
Wilmington, Illinois.'' That is a mandated annual report.
  ``Activities Involving Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Research''; 
annually.
  ``International Coffee Agreement.'' That is an annual report.
  And, as appropriate: ``Recommendations for Correcting High Coffee 
Prices.''
  ``Summary and Analysis of Agency Statements With Respect to Motor 
Vehicle Use.'' That is an annual report.
  ``World Food Day.'' This is an annual report that is mandated by the 
Congress; a report on World Food Day.
  Here is another one which is probably a compelling report that 
everyone in 
[[Page S3517]] the Congress reads, I am sure, every year when it comes 
in:
  ``The Air Force Participation in State Department Housing Pools.''
  ``The Telephone Bank Board.''
  ``The Financial Report of the Agricultural Hall of Fame.''
  Mr. President, I have always been interested in the Agricultural Hall 
of Fame. I am just not sure that I need a report every year on its 
condition.
  ``Developing an Agricultural Information Exchange Program With 
Ireland.''
  ``Investigations Into Increased Use of Protein By-Products From 
Alcohol Fuel Production''; annually.
  ``Continuation Pay for Armed Forces Dentists.''
  Mr. President, I have to make a confession right now. I have been on 
the Armed Services Committee, now in my 9th year, and I have never read 
the annual report that is required concerning the continuation pay for 
Armed Forces dentists. I am probably doubly guilty because for 8 of 
those years, I was a member of the Personnel Subcommittee, and I still 
never read that congressionally mandated report requiring the Congress 
to be updated annually on the Continuation Pay for Armed Forces 
Dentists. So I am one of those guilty parties who has failed to pay 
attention to these vital reports that are sent to the Congress on an 
annual basis.
  ``Average Cost per-Mile of Privately Owned Motorcycles, Automobiles, 
and Airplanes''; annually.
  ``Proposed Reductions in Pricing Policy for Space Transportation 
System For Commercial and Foreign Users.''
  And finally, last but not least, the Congress is requiring a report 
annually concerning the condition of the ``Ladies of the Grand Army of 
the Republic,'' on an annual basis.
  I do not know if that report requires an update on the individual 
health of the members or perhaps the status of the Grand Army of the 
Republic's finances. But again, although I must confess my deep and 
abiding interest in the activities of the Ladies of the Grand Army of 
the Republic, I have not read that annual report, either. But I intend 
to do so at least once because for the life of me I cannot imagine--I 
cannot imagine--why the Congress of the United States would require an 
annual report concerning the Ladies of the Grand Army of the Republic. 
I am sure that Senator Nunn would want, perhaps, to have included in 
that a report on the Daughters of the Confederacy, given his regional 
interests.
  However, I do not think that either of these, frankly, are required. 
And the reality is that each of these reports costs money. Someone has 
to take time from his or her duties and go to work and compile these 
reports and send them over to the Congress of the United States. And 
the fact is, I am sorry to be a bit jocular about this issue, but no 
one reads most of these reports.
  What we do to the bureaucrats and the people who are hard-working men 
and women is two things. One, waste their time; and then, two, we do 
not get the emphasis that we really need on the reports that are vital 
to Congress, the reports that are necessary to help us do our work. 
Instead, we clutter it up with 5,300 reports.
  In case you think we have been doing this forever, let me remind you, 
for the Record, in 1970 the GAO stated that Congress mandated only 750 
reports. Now we have spiraled past 5,300. I believe the number, to be 
exact, is 5,348 reports last year. Further, the GAO study states that 
Congress imposes about 300 new requirements on Federal agencies each 
year.
  Mr. President, we should sunset these and we should also have a 
requirement that any report that is mandated by Congress have a sunset 
provision in it. If the report is necessary, if it is vital, if it is 
something that the Congress needs in order to do its work, then we can 
easily reauthorize these every 5 years.
  As Senators Levin and Cohen, who have worked very hard on this issue 
have noted, the Department of Agriculture alone has estimated the cost 
of preparing the 280 reports it had to submit to Congress last year at 
$40 million.
  The sum of $40 million was spent last year just by the Department of 
Agriculture alone in preparing the 280 reports that they had to submit 
to Congress.
  Mr. President, I support the bills that have been proposed by Senator 
Levin and Senator Cohen to eliminate several hundred specific reports. 
I think many of them should be done away with now. I hope that we can 
consider Senator Levin's and Senator Cohen's legislation as soon as 
possible. In the meantime, why do we not get about the business of 
sunsetting these?
  Mr. President, I am joined by my friends at the National Taxpayers 
Union and the Citizens for a Sound Economy. Let me just quote briefly 
from the National Taxpayers Union letter and the letter from Citizens 
for a Sound Economy.

       National Taxpayers Union, America's largest taxpayer 
     organization, is pleased to endorse * * * the bill to 
     terminate all congressionally mandated reports after five 
     years. This legislation would save millions of taxpayer 
     dollars that are now wasted on unnecessary reports.
       National Taxpayers Union is pleased to support this 
     important ``sunset'' bill and encourages you to offer it as 
     an amendment to pending legislation on the Senate floor. The 
     sooner wasteful government reports can be eliminated, the 
     better it will be for America's taxpayers.

  The Citizens Against Government Waste are also in support of this 
amendment.
  Mr. President, Citizens for a Sound Economy says:

       While it is important for Congress to keep a watchful eye 
     on the activities of Federal agencies, requiring more than 
     5,300 reports from the executive branch each year is a costly 
     case of extreme micromanagement. These reports--most of which 
     are probably never read and many of which are redundant--
     constitute a monumental waste of time, money and manpower. 
     Ultimately, American taxpayers pay for these unnecessary 
     reports. The price tag on these reports was $757 million in 
     1993.

  Mr. President, I think that is an important point that the Citizens 
for a Sound Economy have made. The price tag on this 5,300 reports last 
year, in 1993, 2 years ago, was $757 million.
  So I urge my colleagues. I would like to see, frankly, this amendment 
accepted by both sides. I would be more than happy to discuss this 
issue with my friends on the other side, the managers of the bill. I 
want to thank them for their hard work on this issue.
  Let me also point out the final report of the Senate members of the 
Joint Committee on the Organization of Congress which was issued in 
December 1993. On page 22, it said--this is the report of a bipartisan 
group of Senate members chaired by Senator Boren and Senator Domenici. 
The other members were Senators Sasser, Ford, Reid, Sarbanes, Pryor, 
Kassebaum, Lott, Stevens, Cohen, and Lugar.
  Item 33 of this report, Organization of Congress recommendation, the 
requirement for an executive agency to report to Congress should be 
effective for no more than 5 years. They go on to say the proliferation 
of mandatory agency reporting is a matter of wide concern. Several 
times in recent years the House Government Operations Committee and the 
Senate Governmental Affairs Committee have acted to eliminate the 
reports which have outlived their usefulness. However, the recent 
reports should not continue in perpetuity without some clear evidence 
that the report serves a useful policy and purpose. The proliferation 
of mandatory agency reports has been a matter of wide concern in the 
Congress and in the executive branch. This provision would 
automatically terminate such reports and will encourage committees and 
Members who find a particular report valuable to act to extend the 
statutory requirement for a specific report.
  Mr. President, I want to thank both Senator Roth, the distinguished 
chairman of the committee, and Senator Nunn for their hard work on this 
bill. I believe that this amendment is an appropriate addition to it. I 
would like to see us understand that, if this amendment were passed, we 
may not save $757 million because I think we all are aware that there 
are a number of reports that need to be made to Congress and there are 
many areas which the Congress needs to be aware of. But there is also 
literally thousands that have long outlived their usefulness, if they 
ever had any, and it is time that we sunseted them all.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the letters from the 
Citizens for a Sound Economy and the National 
[[Page S3518]] Taxpayers Union be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                                     Citizens for a Sound Economy,
                                    Washington, DC, July 29, 1994.
     Hon. John McCain,
     U.S. Senate, Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, DC.
       Dear Senator McCain: This is to express the support of 
     Citizens for a Sound Economy (CSE) for S. 1971, which would 
     eliminate all congressionally mandated reports after five 
     years. CSE is a 250,000 member grassroots advocacy group that 
     promotes free market economic policies.
       While it is important for Congress to keep a watchful eye 
     on the activities of federal agencies, requiring more than 
     5300 reports from the executive branch each year is a costly 
     case of extreme micromanagement. These reports--most of which 
     are probably never read and many of which are redundant--
     constitute a monumental waste of time, money and manpower. 
     Ultimately, American taxpayers pay for these unnecessary 
     reports. The price tag on these reports was $757 million in 
     1993. S. 1971 would reduce that burden substantially.
       Citizens for a Sound Economy therefore applauds your 
     sponsorship of S. 1971, and we urge you and your colleagues 
     to pass this bill.
           Sincerely,
                                                     Paul Beckner,
     President.
                                                                    ____

                                         National Taxpayers Union,
                                    Washington, DC, June 13, 1994.
     Hon. John McCain,
     U.S. Senate, Russell Office Building, Washington, DC.
       Dear Senator McCain: National Taxpayers Union, America's 
     largest taxpayer organization, is pleased to endorse S. 1971, 
     your bill to terminate all congressionally mandated reports 
     after five years. This legislation would save millions of 
     taxpayer dollars that are now wasted on unnecessary reports.
       S. 1971 would ``sunset'' the more than 5,300 Executive 
     Branch department and agency reports that Congress now 
     requires. It would provide a five-year window of opportunity 
     for important and necessary reports to be reauthorized. This 
     would alleviate the present avalanche of reports mandated by 
     laws enacted over the years.
       In the words of Vice President Gore's National Performance 
     Review Report, ``over the past decades, we have thrown layer 
     upon layer of reporting requirements on federal agencies, 
     creating an almost endless series of required audits, 
     reports, and exhibits.''
       NTU agrees with that analysis as well as the recommendation 
     of the Senate members of the Joint Committee on the 
     Organization of Congress, to limit all agency reporting 
     requirements enacted by Congress to an effective period of no 
     more than five years. Again, as in S. 1971, those reports 
     that are particularly valuable could be reauthorized for a 
     specific period.
       National Taxpayers Union is pleased to support this 
     important ``sunset'' bill and encourages you to offer it as 
     an amendment to pending legislation on the Senate floor. The 
     sooner wasteful government reports can be eliminated, the 
     better it will be for America's taxpayers.
       We urge your Senate colleagues to join with you to enact 
     the provisions of S. 1971.
           Sincerely,
                                                     Al Cors, Jr.,
                                   Director, Government Relations.

  Mr. NUNN addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Georgia.
  Mr. NUNN. Mr. President, it is my hope that we can accept this 
amendment. I am checking right now to make sure there is no one who has 
a strong feeling otherwise.
  But I think the Senator from Arizona makes a good case. These reports 
oftentimes are needed when first requested and then they get into law 
and they become permanent fixtures. So where we can eliminate a lot of 
these reports, I would certainly welcome that.
  We have done some similar things in the authorization bill in the 
defense report. Once, I recall, DOD complained very much about all the 
reports. We gave them the authority to come up and tell us all they did 
not want. Lo and behold, they ended up wanting most of them.
  So you never know who has decided they like reports until you test 
the waters. But I think that is what the Senator from Arizona is doing 
here. He is testing the water. It would be up to those, I understand, 
who want to keep a report to have it specifically reviewed as well as 
have it go on in perpetuity. I hope we accept this, and I think we will 
get an affirmative OK of that in just a minute.
  Mr. GORTON addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.
  Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, I wonder if the managers of the bill would 
object if I went off this while they are looking for that approval and 
spoke as if in morning business for a short period of time.
  Mr. ROTH. Mr. President, I say to the distinguished Senator that 
there will be no objection so long as we are able to come back for a 
unanimous-consent request and that we be free to do so.
  Mr. GORTON. There will be no problem.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I be allowed to proceed 
as if in morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

                          ____________________