It seems that public sentiment and Congressional will are finally coming together to give public access to Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports. Here’s a new RollCall article “Should Congressional Research Service Reports Be Public?” which lays out the story quite well. Public access to CRS reports (Congress’ think tank!) would be a boon. As Representatives Quigley (D-ILL) and Lance (R-NJ) wrote in their recent NY Times editorial, the public “deserves access to the same objective and nonpartisan CRS analyses on which we rely as Members of Congress.” We’ll continue to track this issue. Hopefully before long, this issue will be put to rest and there will be widespread access (and preservation of course!) to these important government publications!
The walls between members of the public and Capitol Hill’s exclusive division of policy and legal analysts are too tall, according to transparency advocates both inside and outside of Congress.
Such sentiment is prompting their calls to lawmakers with jurisdiction over the Library of Congress and the House clerk’s office to examine making public the highly regarded work of the Congressional Research Service.
“By providing public access to CRS reports, we can elevate our national discourse and make it easier for citizens to cut through the misinformation that too often confuses the national debate,” Reps. Leonard Lance, R-N.J., and Mike Quigley, D-Ill., wrote in a June 17 letter to House Administration Committee leaders.
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