# Plain Language Summary: Eliminate Useless Reports Act of 2024

This bill requires federal agencies to take a hard look at the reports they're required to submit to Congress and identify which ones are outdated or duplicative—meaning they're either no longer needed or they repeat information that's already being reported elsewhere. When agencies prepare their annual budget requests, they now have to include a list of these unnecessary reports along with recommendations on what to do about them, such as stopping them entirely, combining them with other reports, or submitting them less frequently.

Here's how it works in practice: Each agency head must examine all the recurring reports their agency submits to Congress and flag the ones that seem wasteful. For each report they identify as unnecessary, they have to explain why they think it's outdated or duplicative, estimate how much time and money the agency spends preparing it, and recommend whether it should be eliminated, modified, consolidated with other reports, or submitted less often. If multiple agencies work together on a report, they all have to agree it's unnecessary before including it on the list. The Office of Management and Budget also gets tasked with reviewing reports that multiple agencies submit and making recommendations to Congress about those.

The bill then gives Congress a chance to act on these recommendations. Committee chairs and ranking members can agree or disagree with an agency's suggestion, and if they agree, they can work with the agency to draft legislation to actually eliminate or change the report. However, agencies still have to keep submitting reports that Congress hasn't officially changed—this bill doesn't give them permission to stop on their own. Essentially, this is a mechanism to help identify government waste and give Congress a structured way to clean up outdated requirements, though it requires actual legislative action to make changes stick.

Eliminate Useless Reports Act of 2024

Garcia, Robert

Eliminate Useless Reports Act of 2023This bill requires federal agencies to include a list of outdated or duplicative reporting requirements in their annual budget justifications. With respect to each recurring plan or report that is outdated or duplicative, the agency must also include (1) a recommendation on whether to&nbsp;end, modify, consolidate, or reduce the frequency of the report or plan; (2) a citation to each provision of law or directive in a congressional report that requires or requests the submission of the report or plan; and (3) a list of the relevant congressional committees.If a recurring plan or report is required to be submitted by at least two federal agencies, the bill requires the Office of Management and Budget to (1) determine whether the requirement to submit the recurring plan or report is outdated or duplicative, and (2) make recommendations to Congress accordingly.&nbsp;