A bill up for a vote today in the House would end the standard operating procedure at the Government Printing Office of printing every page of every bill introduced in the Congress.

The idea would save an estimated $25 to $35 million over ten years - not a huge amount of money when you consider that the yearly budget deficit is nearly $1.3 trillion - but it's something.

Backers say with the internet, there is no reason why the GPO should print mounds of bills, when people can access them on line and do any printing on their own time - and dollar.

Here is the bill - as put on line by the Government Printing Office:
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[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office]
[H.R. 292 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 292

   To amend title 44, United States Code, to eliminate the mandatory
printing of bills and resolutions by the Government Printing Office for
          the use of the House of Representatives and Senate.


__________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 12, 2011

 Mr. Lee of New York introduced the following bill; which was referred
                to the Committee on House Administration

__________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend title 44, United States Code, to eliminate the mandatory
printing of bills and resolutions by the Government Printing Office for
          the use of the House of Representatives and Senate.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the Stop the OverPrinting (STOP) Act''.

SEC. 2. ELIMINATION OF MANDATORY PRINTING OF BILLS AND RESOLUTIONS BY
              PUBLIC PRINTER FOR HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AND SENATE.

    (a) Elimination of Mandatory Printing.--Section 706 of title 44,
United States Code, is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 706. Bills and resolutions
    (a) No Printing of Bills and Resolutions.--Except as provided in
subsections (b) and (c), the Public Printer shall make bills and
resolutions available for the use of the House of Representatives and
Senate only in an electronic format which is accessible through the
Internet.
   (b) Exception for Standing Request of Committee for Bills and
Resolutions Within Jurisdiction.--If a committee (including a joint
committee) of the House of Representatives or Senate, at any time
during a Congress, requests the Public Printer to provide the committee
with printed copies of each bill or resolution during the Congress that
is within the committee's jurisdiction, the Public Printer shall
provide the committee with printed copies of each such bill or
resolution, except that the aggregate number of printed copies of any
bill or resolution provided pursuant to requests under this subsection
may not exceed 75.
    ``(c) Exception for Request of Members or Committees for Individual
Bills or Resolutions.--At the request of a Member (including a Delegate
or Resident Commissioner to the Congress) or committee (including a
joint committee) of the House of Representatives or Senate, the Public
Printer shall provide the Member or committee with such number of
printed copies of a bill or resolution as the Member or committee may
request.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall
take effect upon the expiration of the 3-month period which begins on
the date of the enactment of this Act.