Paperless federal budget saves 480 trees

WASHINGTON — The White House is going paperless when it submits the fiscal 2009 budget Feb. 4. It's a move aimed at saving a few bucks for taxpayers — and a few trees.

Instead of printing 3,000 free copies of the budget for the media, lawmakers, the White House and Cabinet, the White House will put the 2,200-page tome online at www.budget.gov.

Jim Nussle, White House budget director, announced the move — appropriately enough — by e-mail.

"This step will save nearly 20 tons of paper, or roughly 480 trees," Nussle said. "In terms of fiscal savings, we estimate the E-Budget will save nearly a million dollars over the next five years."

Nussle took the step after a few months running the Office of Management and Budget, where hundreds of old budget volumes gather dust on bookshelves or are put to use as computer-monitor platforms.

But Washington is filled with old-school wonks who read the budget and refer to it — and want a copy in their offices.

They will be able to buy paper copies of the four-volume budget from the Government Printing Office. But at more than $200 a set, there's plenty of incentive to give the electronic copy a try.

"Since when did the Bush White House get e-fiscal discipline?" asked Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Byrd, D-W.Va. "Let us hope that they send us a budget that is worth the paper it would have been printed on."