Instead of printing 3,000 copies of its 2,200-page budget, the White House has elected to put the gigantic tome online. “This step will save nearly 20 tons of paper, or roughly 480 trees,” says White House Budget Director Jim Nussle, who estimates that bringing the budget presentation into the new millennium will save nearly a million dollars over the next five years. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), for one, is unimpressed. “Since when did the Bush White House get e-fiscal discipline?” he asks. “Let us hope that they send us a budget that is worth the paper it would have been printed on.” Like, with lots of money allocated for forest preservation. Ha ha ha!
