Federal Agency Mail Management Act of 2017

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 194) to ensure the effective processing of mail by Federal agencies, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include any extraneous material in the Record on the bill under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I present today H.R. 194, the Federal Agency Mail Management Act of 2017. Approximately 2 years ago, President Obama signed into law the Presidential and Federal Records Act Amendments of 2014.

The law modernized and improved Federal recordkeeping statutes by codifying agency responsibilities that have been in practice for decades. Once the law was enacted, the General Services Administration, or GSA, identified technical provisions in the law that the agency interpreted as limiting its ability to regulate Federal agency mailroom operations.

The GSA has been responsible for the regulation and oversight of Federal agency mail management for many years. Congress did not intend for the 2014 law to change the mail management structure.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 194 provides clarification to ensure that the GSA is responsible for mailroom management oversight, and not the National Archives and Records Administration. Both GSA and the National Archives have worked with Congress to make the correction, and both entities support H.R. 194.

Mr. Speaker, an identical bill was passed by the House with unanimous voice vote near the end of last Congress. We hope that this legislation will be signed into law this Congress to correct the unintended consequences of a previous law.

This corrective measure has bipartisan support, and I appreciate having my friend and colleague, Mr. Connolly of Virginia, join me as a cosponsor.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the Federal Agency Mail Management Act, which I introduced along with, of course, the author of the bill, Representative Steve Russell. I want to thank Representative Russell for working in a bipartisan manner on this legislation.

The bill would make a technical correction to clarify that the Administrator of the General Services Administration is responsible for managing mail in the executive branch. The Administrator of GSA has historically had this responsibility, but when the Federal Records Act was updated in 2014, changes made to the statute left it unclear whether the Administrator's role had changed.

You would think it is a simple commonsense measure, but it requires an act of Congress to clarify. Congress never intended to take away the Administrator's authority to manage mail. The bill was approved by the House without opposition last year. We are hoping the same will pertain this year.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates this bill would cost the Federal Government nothing, because GSA already processes mail for Federal agencies.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members to support the bill and give clarity to the GSA and the National Archives, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 250, H.R. 194.

I ask unanimous consent the bill be considered read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.