Texas Insider Report: WASHINGTON DC Today the House passed H.R. 4487 the Legislative Branch Appropriations for Fiscal Year (FY) 2015. Rep. Ralph Hall (TX-04) proposed an amendment to the legislation that would save hardworking taxpayers $300000 per year. The House adopted Rep. Halls amendment by voice vote and Hall voted with the House to pass the bill 402-14.
When introducing his cost-savings amendment Hall made the following Floor Statement:
My amendment today simply prohibits the Statement of Disbursements of the House from being distributed the old fashioned way: through print. A lot of people say Im old fashioned and Im behind the times but I have a Facebook account I tweet and just this week my congressional website was singled out for the Silver Mouse Award placing it in the top 6 of all congressional websites for transparency ease of use and accessibility of constituent services.
Right now the Chief Administrative Officer of the House distributes 441 copies of its three-volume Statement of Disbursements of the House at a cost of well over $300000 per year. This quarterly public report of all receipts and expenditures for U.S. House of Representatives Members Committees Leadership Officers and Offices was more than 2400 pages long in its last edition. Multiply that by 441 and you have over 100000 pages of printed material all of which can be easily accessed on the CAOs website.
To be clear my amendment does nothing to prohibit the CAO from making the Statement of Disbursements of the House available online to Members as they currently do but if I can learn to communicate electronically I dont see why the federal government cant do the same thing."
Texas Insider Report: WASHINGTON DC Today the House passed H.R. 4487 the Legislative Branch Appropriations for Fiscal Year (FY) 2015. Rep. Ralph Hall (TX-04) proposed an amendment to the legislation that would save hardworking taxpayers $300000 per year. The House adopted Rep. Halls amendment by voice vote and Hall voted with the House to pass the bill 402-14.
When introducing his cost-savings amendment Hall made the following Floor Statement:
My amendment today simply prohibits the Statement of Disbursements of the House from being distributed the old fashioned way: through print. A lot of people say Im old fashioned and Im behind the times but I have a Facebook account I tweet and just this week my congressional website was singled out for the Silver Mouse Award placing it in the top 6 of all congressional websites for transparency ease of use and accessibility of constituent services.
Right now the Chief Administrative Officer of the House distributes 441 copies of its three-volume Statement of Disbursements of the House at a cost of well over $300000 per year. This quarterly public report of all receipts and expenditures for U.S. House of Representatives Members Committees Leadership Officers and Offices was more than 2400 pages long in its last edition. Multiply that by 441 and you have over 100000 pages of printed material all of which can be easily accessed on the CAOs website.
To be clear my amendment does nothing to prohibit the CAO from making the Statement of Disbursements of the House available online to Members as they currently do but if I can learn to communicate electronically I dont see why the federal government cant do the same thing."
