Summary: GAO discussed a proposed bill which would discontinue or amend certain requirements for agency reports to Congress. The bill would eliminate or modify approximately 200 mandated reporting requirements, thereby decreasing the workload and cost of Government operations. The Office of Management and Budget estimated that passage of the bill would save the Government more than $10 million annually. GAO strongly supports efforts to reduce unnecessary paperwork in the Federal Government and endorses the enactment of a reports reduction bill. However, it believes that there are several reporting requirements covered by the proposed bill that need modifying. GAO has found that the number of reporting requirements has grown dramatically in recent years and believes that the utility of congressional reports should be evaluated on an ongoing basis. Further, GAO believes that the value of reporting requirements should be assessed during the legislative initiation and reauthorization processes. A management approach would facilitate the evaluation of reporting requirements and encourage legislators to use the GAO inventory of these requirements to avoid creating them unnecessarily.
