White House rejects order to use printing office

Congress on Thursday ordered executive branch agencies to continue to use the Government Printing Office for most printing services. But the White House Friday said agencies could ignore the order.

Lawmakers included the order in the continuing resolution that funds federal agencies from Oct. 1, when the new fiscal year begins, through Oct. 4.

But Office of Management and Budget spokeswoman Amy Call pointed to a 1996 Justice Department opinion that said Congress cannot force the executive branch to go through the Government Printing Office, which is a legislative branch agency.

"The provision is unconstitutional and will therefore be treated as nonbinding," Call said.

The disagreement comes as the Office of Management and Budget and procurement chiefs in the executive branch are working out a change to federal regulations that would eliminate a long-standing rule requiring many agencies to go through the Government Printing Office for printing services. OMB Director Mitch Daniels announced this spring that the Bush administration would eliminate the rule so that agencies could contract directly with printing firms. Daniels estimated the change would save agencies $50 million to $70 million a year.

But several lawmakers, including Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., have said that agencies are required by federal law to use the Government Printing Office. A change in law, not regulation, would be necessary for agencies to go around the printing office, Hoyer said at a hearing this summer.

On the House floor Thursday, House Appropriations Committee Chairman Bill Young, R-Fla., said the provision in the continuing resolution "will ensure that executive agencies use the Government Printing Office when procuring government printing, as specified under current law."

Call said OMB is still working on the regulatory change, though no date has been set for its publication.

Under Daniels' May 3 directive, agencies that are not subject to the acquisition regulation-the Federal Aviation Administration and the CIA, for example-could start buying printing services on their own beginning Sept. 1.

The dispute could result in political and legal tangles between the Bush administration and lawmakers in the coming months.