The Honorable James A. Leach
Chairman
Committee on Banking and Financial Services
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515-1304
Dear Mr. Chairman:
This responds to your April 22, 1999 letter to the Secretary requesting the views of the Department of the Treasury on the Federal Reports Elimination and Sunset Act of 1995 (Pub.L. 104-66), under which many statutory requirements for annual or other periodic reports are scheduled to expire at the end of the year.
We have not identified any reporting requirements that we believe are so critical to the operation of agency programs that they should be reinstated. Specifically, we recommend that the following reporting requirements that are grouped under the "Banks and Banking" subject category in "Reports to Be Made to Congress," House Document 103-7, pp. 140-144, 103rd Congress, 1st Sess. (1993), be allowed to expire as provided under Pub.L. 104-66, and the affected reports be discontinued.
Assessment of Environmental Impact on Proposed Multilateral Development Bank Actions (Section 521 of Pub.L. 101-240): This 1989 requirement was intended to address a potential problem that has not materialized. Discontinuing this report would not affect other current environmental reporting requirements, including the Treasury report entitled Annual Report to Congress on Multilateral Development Banks and the Environment (required by section 539(e) of Pub.L. 99-591 and section 533(b) of Pub.L. 101-167) and the Agency for International Development report entitled List of Upcoming Multilateral Development Bank Projects with Possible Environmental Concerns (required by section 537(h) of Pub.L. 100-202).
Monthly Operating Summary of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
(Section 541(a) of Pub.L. 101-240): This report is no longer the sole source of reports on IBRD operations because material identifying upcoming loans and credits from the World Bank and the regional development banks has become widely available on the Internet. The Department continues to provide supplementary information on upcoming loans and credits to congressional committees on request.
Comparable Documents Prepared by Other Multilateral Development Banks Which Show the
Loans and Credits Under Consideration (Section 541(a) of Pub.L. 101-240): This report is no longer the sole source of such information because material identifying upcoming loans and credits from the World Bank and the regional development banks has become widely available on the Internet.
Foreign Treatment of U.S. Financial Institutions (22 U.S.C. 5352): In the November 30, 1998 cover letter accompanying the latest National Treatment Study, former Secretary Rubin recommended that this quadrennial report be discontinued. Treasury has surveyed other agencies and users of the report and generally finds no objection to its elimination.
Debt of the Former Soviet Union Held by Commercial Financial Institutions (22 U.S.C. 5812 note): This study was a one-time reporting requirement.
With regard to the first four items listed under the category of "Money and Monetary Policy," the U.S. Mint has advised us that all of the reports were either one-time reporting requirements or relate to a program that has been completed. The Mint has advised that none of these reports should be reinstated.
There are other reporting requirements which require certain reports to be made by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) to the Congress. We understand that the committee sent separate letters to both the OCC and the OTS requesting the views of those agencies directly, so this letter does not address those reports which are under their supervision.
The Office of Management and Budget has advised that there is no objection from the standpoint of the Administration's program to the submission of this report.
Sincerely,
/s/
Linda L. Robertson
Assistant Secretary
(Legislative Affairs and Public Liaison)
cc: The Honorable John J. LaFalce