Russell’s cost-saving measure carries funds to end shutdown
A bill signed into law Monday night by President Donald Trump contained two important, bipartisan objectives: funding the federal government for three weeks and continuing a health insurance program for 9 million children.
It also had a strange name — The Federal Register Printing Savings Act of 2017 — and an unusual sponsor for legislation of such importance: Rep. Steve Russell, a sophomore Republican from Oklahoma City.
The bill that ended the first federal government shutdown in half a decade began as a small and uncontroversial costsaving measure before it was amended to include the crucial government funding. The underlying bill, with government funding attached, was then passed.
That underlying bill — Russell’s original intent — prohibits the government from providing free copies of the Federal Register to members of Congress, unless they ask for it.
The Federal Register — daily documentation of every notice, rule and regulatory action by the federal government — ran to a total of 97,110 pages in 2016. Members of Congress have traditionally been given free copies for their perusal each morning but most modern congressional staffers instead favor electronic versions, which are easily searchable.
“As a result, it is not uncommon for hundreds of copies of the Federal Register to be thrown away each day,” according to a report from the House Committee on Oversight and Reform.
By no longer printing and delivering the hulking register to those who don’t want it, the government is expected to save about $1 million annually, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The CBO estimates 1,000 copies of the Federal Register are printed daily at an average length of 300 pages and average cost of $4.50 each.
The Russell bill passed the House and Senate without objection in May and December, respectively. A similar bill was introduced in 2016 and passed the House but was not considered by the Senate.