At a Cabinet Council on Management and Administration on January 5, 1984 we approved the Administration's Information Collection Budget for Fiscal Year 1984. This is the third government-wide ``paperwork budget.'' It sets precise goals for limiting the number of hours that individual citizens, businesses, and State and local governments must spend filling out forms and reports for the Federal government.

Under this budget, Federal departments and agencies are expected to reduce paperwork by a total of over 130 million hours by the end of FY 1984 -- a reduction of 6.5 percent from last year. Reduction goals for each department and agency are described in the budget, and will be provided in individual allowance letters from the Director of the Office of Management and Budget.

We have already surpassed our goal of cutting Federal paperwork by over 300 million hours. This means that Americans now have well over 150,000 work-years available every year for activities of their own choosing, time that had previously been spent filling out unnecessary government forms. We can all take pride in this impressive accomplishment, which demonstrates the success of our efforts to reduce government meddling in the affairs of private citizens.

Without your support, and the hard work of those involved in the paperwork control program, our achievements to date would not have been possible. I want to express my congratulations to each of you for a job well done.

We still have a great deal to do in reducing Federal paperwork, and our attention to this critical effort must be constant and unflagging. The goals established for FY 1984 are high, but I am certain they can be attained or surpassed as they were last year. I am counting on each of you to devote your personal attention to meeting your agency's paperwork-reduction goal for the current year, as part of the Administration's commitment to minimizing the burdens and intrusions of government.

Ronald Reagan