Washington, D.C. – Government Publishing Office (GPO) Director Hugh Nathanial Halpern presented GPO's FY 2021 appropriations request before the U.S. House Subcommittee on Legislative Branch Appropriations. Halpern requested flat funds of $117 million for the agency for the upcoming fiscal year. This is the sixth fiscal year in a row where GPO has requested even funding. Halpern explained that changes in the agency’s business model and strategic decisions to keep overhead costs low have allowed the agency to maintain consistent appropriations requests year to year.

The FY 2021 request will enable GPO to:

meet projected requirements for congressional publishing;
fund the operation of the public information programs of the Superintendent of Documents; and

develop information technology, including IT cybersecurity measures, to support congressional publishing and public information programs operations.

“GPO provides tremendous value for Congress’ relatively small annual investment,” Halpern told the subcommittee. “GPO’s continued transition to digital technologies and products has increased our productivity and reduced costs. We have been enormously successful in delivering value to our customers.”

During the hearing Halpern highlighted GPO’s new state-of-the-art digital publishing technology XPub, which is replacing GPO’s more than 30-year-old MicroComp digital typesetting system. Halpern explained the possibility of providing the new system to customers as a software-as-a-service, much like Office 365 or Adobe’s Creative Cloud. Halpern also reported that for the 23rd consecutive year, GPO’s independent outside auditor provided GPO with an unmodified, or clean, opinion on its financial statements.

Read the Director’s Statement: https://www.gpo.gov/who-we-are/our-agency/congressional-relations 

GPO is the Federal Government’s official, digital, secure resource for producing, procuring, cataloging, indexing, authenticating, disseminating, and preserving the official information products of the U.S. Government. The GPO is responsible for the production and distribution of information products and services for all three branches of the Federal Government, including U.S. passports for the Department of State as well as the official publications of Congress, the White House, and other Federal agencies in digital and print formats. GPO provides for permanent public access to Federal Government information at no charge through www.govinfo.gov and partnerships with approximately 1,100 libraries nationwide participating in the Federal Depository Library Program. For more information, please visit www.gpo.gov.