Committee to agencies: We want your paperwork

The Senate Governmental Affairs Committee voted last week to require that a number of agencies continue sending reports to Congress despite a paperwork reduction law that tried to hold down the deluge of agency reports.

The committee approved by voice vote the bill (H.R. 1042), which passed the House on March 21 by a 414-2 vote, and sent the measure to the Senate.

The bill would continue a series of at least 29 reports by the Defense Department, Energy Department and other agencies dealing from everything from weather services to fire prevention.

A law passed in 1995, the Federal Reports Elimination and Sunset Act, aimed to eliminate many of the voluminous reports government agencies have been required to submit to Congress over the years.