July 11, 2002 -- (WhatTheyThink.com) -- The Associated Press reports that Minnesota Sen. Mark Dayton, a Democrat who chairs the committee overseeing the Government Printing Office, said he would consider a lawsuit to stop the Bush administration’s effort to have executive branch agencies bypass the Government Printing Office when buying print. The Administration is moving ahead with plans to put government printing jobs out to competitive bids despite a law prohibiting the move, White House budget director Mitch Daniels said Wednesday. Federal law requires that most executive branch printing be handled by the GPO, but the White House says the law is unconstitutional. At a hearing Wednesday, Dayton suggested the White House and Congress ask a federal court to decide whether the law is constitutional. Daniels didn't directly respond, but after the hearing the Associated Press said he rejected the idea. "We think the savings to the taxpayers are so obvious, and the virtues of competition so obvious, that this is a step that should have been taken a long time ago," he said in an interview. "If somebody wants to litigate it, of course, that's their right, but the taxpayers would be disadvantaged." Daniels also said the Bush administration is prepared to move ahead this fall with competitive bidding.