The Government Printing Office, among other major components, faces major cuts under an appropriations bill that Wednesday moved to the House Rules Committee, FierceGovernmentIT reports.
H.R. 2551 would cut the GPO’s funding for 2012 by 16 percent compared to its 2011 funding.. The GPO would receive $113 million in 2012, $35.5 million less than President Barack Obama requested.
A report accompanying the bill suggests the GPO could be privatized because it currently contracts out nearly 90 percent of its printing orders. The report directs the Government Accountability Office to study if the General Services Administration could print for the executive branch and if the rest of the GPO could be privatized.
“The committee has some concern about the future of the GPO as a viable printing operation for the federal government,” the report says.
The bill also calls for funding cuts to both the Congressional Research Office and the Government Accountability Office.
