Last month the House released its legislative appropriations (“Privatization of GPO, Defunding of FDsys, and the Future of the FDLP”). As we noted then, “the future of long-term preservation of and free access to government information is in the hands of Congress today.” And it doesn’t look any better today with the release of the Senate’s legislative appropriations markup, S.Rept. 112-080 (see p.42 – 44).
The Senate added $500,000 to the House’s revolving fund appropriations of ZERO (GPO had requested $6million!) — but looks to be thinking that FDsys funding will come from there (GPO requested $6million for FDsys!) — added around $6.8 million to congressional binding and printing and kept $35 million for salary and expenses for the Superintendent of Documents — the same amount as the House. There’s none of that restructuring language in the House appropriations (requesting GAO to research the efficacy of GPO privatization and splitting functions between LC and GSA). The Senate is recommending a 12.4 percent reduction in overall funding for the GPO from the fiscal year 2011 enacted level, which is only slightly less ugly than the 20% reduction recommended by the House.
Please call, write and email your Senators TODAY and express your support for FULL GPO funding, *especially* if you happen to live in a state whose Senator sits on the Appropriations Committee.
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