the public printer of the united states was the head of the united states government publishing office (gpo). pursuant to , this officer was nominated by the president of the united states and approved by the united states senate. in december 2014, congress passed and president obama signed into law h.r. 83, which consolidated and continued appropriations for fy 2015. section 1301 of that act changed the name of the government printing office to the government publishing office and the title of public printer to director. thus, davita vance-cooks was the last public printer of the united states and the first director of the u.s. government publishing office.