WASHINGTON — The White House is going paperless when it submits the fiscal 2009 budget Feb. 4. Instead of printing 3,000 free copies of the budget for the media, lawmakers, the White House and Cabinet, the White House will put the 2,200-page tome online at www.budget.gov.
Jim Nussle, White House budget director, announced the move — appropriately enough — by e-mail.
"This step will save nearly 20 tons of paper, or roughly 480 trees," Nussle said. "In terms of fiscal savings, we estimate the E-Budget will save nearly a million dollars over the next five years."
Those who want paper copies can buy paper copies of the four-volume budget from the Government Printing Office. But at more than $200 a set, there's plenty of incentive to give the electronic copy a try.
"Since when did the Bush White House get e-fiscal discipline?" asked Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Byrd, D-W.Va. "Let us hope that they send us a budget that is worth the paper it would have been printed on."
Source: Andrew Taylor, Associated Press
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