[Infowarrior] - Regarding government reports

[Richard Forno]

Unrequired reading
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/national/2014/05/03/unrequired-reading/

Every year, as required by law, the U.S. government prepares an official report to Congress on Dog and Cat Fur Protection. The task requires at least 15 employees in at least six different federal offices.

First, workers have to gather data about the enforcement of a law banning imports of fur coats, furry toys or other items made from the pelts of pets. How many shipments were checked? How many illegal furs were found?

The data are written into a report, passed up the chain of command and sent to Capitol Hill.

And then nothing happens.

Although it was Congress that demanded this report in a 2000 law, the legislators who pushed for it are gone. The debate over imported pet fur has waned. Congress lost interest. Of the seven committees that still get copies of the report, none reported finding it useful.

Still, the law lives on, requiring a bureaucratic ritual that has become a complete waste of time.

“I said: ‘Look, let’s just not send it. Let’s just not send it this year and see if anybody asks for it,’ ” said Michael Mullen, a former official at Customs and Border Protection, which handles the report. Mullen said his bosses always said no. “Is that thing still being sent in?” Mullen said, laughing. “Oh, God."

This is a story about how Congress built a black hole.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/national/2014/05/03/unrequired-reading/

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Just because i'm near the punchbowl doesn't mean I'm also drinking from it.