Privatization of GPO, Defunding of FDsys, and the Future of the FDLP

Privatization of GPO, Defunding of FDsys, and the Future of the FDLP, by jajacobs

  • “On July 22, the House passed a bill that would remove funding for FDsys, reduce funding for GPO by 20%, and reduce funding for the Superintendent of Documents by 16% (Kelley). The House Report on the bill also directs the Government Accountability Office to conduct a study on “the privatization of the GPO” and the transfer of the Superintendent of Documents and the FDLP to the Library of Congress (page 25). The bill includes many other changes that are relevant to the dissemination of government information (see House Bill Questions Future of GPO and the comments to that post, and the stories in Library Journal and OMB Watch), but the ones related to FDsys and the privatization of the GPO are the ones which, if ultimately approved, would have the greatest negative impact on long-term free public access to government information. Passage of only some of these bad ideas would almost certainly result in a catastrophic loss of long-term access to and preservation of government information. These bad ideas are, however, only symptoms of a still bigger problem. There is, luckily, an obvious, logical path around all these threats.”
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    Posted in: Congress, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legislation
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