Thursday, April 30, 2009

Lieberman Introduces CRS Resolution

Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Joseph Lieberman on Wednesday night introduced what has become a perennial non-binding resolution to put non-confidential Congressional Research Service reports online. Homeland Security and Government Affairs ranking member Susan Collins, Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and others signed on. Rather than creating a new tool for public access, the resolution would let members and committees share reports using the same online services that are available on Congress' internal CRS Web site. The resolution also requires an index of CRS issue briefs and reports be made public.

CRS, which is housed in the Library of Congress, uses taxpayer dollars to produce reports on public policy issues and represent some of the best research conducted by the federal government, the Center for Democracy and Technology said in a blog post. Under the current regime, citizens can ask for copies of reports through their member of Congress but only if they already know the report exists. Projects like Open CRS, which is run by CDT, receives updates on reports as they are published from an anonymous lawmaker, but a public index of reports would simplify this process, the group stated.

In March, Lieberman wrote to Senate Rules Committee Chairman Charles Schumer calling for a sanctioned, automatically updated clearinghouse for the documents so "those with power and those without have equal access to this important resource." Under the chairmanship of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., last Congress, the Rules Committee authorized CRS to create software to let senators place individual reports on their Web sites. That did not go far enough, Lieberman wrote. Read more in CongressDaily here (subscription required).