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Copies of the Congressional Record pile up in the recycling bins in the Washington office of U.S. Rep. Dan Maffei. His bill would eliminate printing of the document, which is produced daily when Congress is in session.

(Courtesy Office of Rep. Dan Maffei)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - What difference does it make if the federal government changes the type used in the documents it prints every day at taxpayer expense?

By U.S. Rep. Dan Maffei's calculations, a simple change in the font used in government reports will save more than $300 million per year.

Maffei, D-Syracuse, plans to introduce a bill today that will require the U.S. Government Printing Office and federal contractors to use a more efficient typeface that takes up less space on a page.

By doing so, Maffei said, it will cut the federal government's costs for ink and paper - expenses that make up a big part of the $2 billion annual printing cost paid for by federal taxpayers.

Maffei's PRINT Act also would prohibit the printing of the Congressional Record, a document containing the official record of the proceedings and debates in Congress.



About 2,350 copies of the Congressional Record are published daily when Congress is in session. The copies are delivered to most congressional offices, even though they are also available online.

The proposed legislation would make the Congressional Record available only in a digital format available online, saving more than $23 million a year, according to the legislation.

Maffei said his bill also would change the name of the Government Printing Office to the Government Publishing Office, reflecting its new focus on digital publications.

The legislation from the two-term congressman faces an uncertain fate in the Republican-controlled House. Maffei introduced the bill with four Democratic cosponsors -- Reps. Sean Patrick Maloney, D-N.Y., Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, Raul Ruiz, D-Calif., and Mike Quigley, D-Ill.

The Maffei bill is separate from the Government Reports Elimination Act of 2014, bipartisan legislation that passed the Senate on Tuesday. That bill would eliminate or consolidate more than 300 reports from more than two dozen federal agencies.

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