Federal Register Modernization Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1654) to amend title 44, United States Code, to modernize the Federal Register, and for other purposes, as amended.

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Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

H.R. 1654, the Federal Register Modernization Act, is a good- government bill that will reduce waste and save taxpayer money. I thank my good friend from North Carolina, Representative Meadows, for his work on this important measure.

The bill would modernize the Federal Register to take advantage of modern technology and increase efficiency. The bill would give the Office of the Federal Register the flexibility to publish the Federal Register electronically.

It also allows agencies to stop sending unnecessary paper copies of documents when they send materials to be published in the Federal Register. That one step alone could save significant sums of money that could be used more efficiently to address the needs of the American public.

H.R. 1654 also makes certain technical changes, of course, to a statute that was originally written in 1935 and does need some updating.

This is exactly the kind of legislation Congress should be passing. It is bipartisan; it is noncontroversial; and it would make modest improvements to bring the Federal Government into the digital age so that information is more accessible to the public.

I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

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Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I think it should be noted that all the bill does is give flexibility, flexibility to publish the Federal Register electronically, so I suspect that there will still be paper copies.

But apparently, the Office of the Federal Register doesn't think it can go online with the Federal Register, so that is very disturbing this late into the digital age.

I regard this bill, the bill of my good friend, I regard it as not prescient, because it should have happened a long time ago, but absolutely necessary, and I commend him for this bill.

Madam Speaker, I am prepared to yield back. Unless my good friend has something further today, I yield back the balance of my time.

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