In a surprise move this week, both the Senate and House of Representatives passed legislation that is on its way to the White House – and that is likely to be signed into law. I’m only being a little sarcastic here, because this congressional session has been by far the least productive ever.
However, one bill was passed and another proposed that collectively eliminate or significantly modify hundreds of unnecessary or outdated reports across dozens of federal agencies. These reports were mandated in legislation originally and thus had to continue to be prepared regardless of their cost or utility until such time as the legislation initiating them was amended.
Congress acted in a manner to reduce the federal government’s administrative burden due to unnecessary mandates. Let’s hope that the new rules being developed essentially in secret right now at agencies that fund research will hew to the same ideal: to minimize the burden on institutions to meet agency requirements for implementing 2 CRF Part 200 – the Uniform Guidance. Hopefully agencies are working to ensure their requirements are as consistent as possible across agencies and that they assign as little new administrative burden to institutions as possible.
