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Congressional Data Coalition: open Congressional information and make Congress work better
Yesterday, FGI, along with a group of citizens, public interest groups, libraries and trade associations comprising the Congressional Data Coalition, submitted testimony to the House Appropriations Committee regarding legislative branch funding priorities for fiscal year 2017.
The group made recommendations on where the House should focus next or what kinds of data should be released:
- Extend and Broaden the Bulk Data Task Force
- Release the Digitized Historical Congressional Record and Publish Future Editions in XML
- Publish all Congress.gov Information in Bulk and in a Structured Data Format
- Include All Public Laws in Congress.gov
- Publish Calendar of Committee Activities in Congress.gov
- Complete and Auditable Bill Text
- CRS Annual Reports and Indices of CRS Reports
- House and Committee Rules
- Publish Bioguide in XML with a Change Log
- Constitution Annotated
- House Office and Support Agency Reports
Recognizing that accomplishing these ends will take funding, the group also urged continued financial support for GPO and LC to maintain and develop congress.gov, fdsys.gov, and their successors.
For the fifth year in a row, today members of the Congressional Data Coalition submitted testimony to House Appropriators on ways to open up legislative information. The bipartisan coalition focused on tweaking congressional procedures and releasing datasets that, in the hands of third parties, will strengthen Congress’ capacity to govern.
In act of cognitive dissonance, House Renews Ban on public access to CRS Reports
In a remarkable example of ironic short-sightedness, the House Appropriations Committee again banned public access and dissemination of publications from the Congressional Research Service (CRS) according to Secrecy News’ Steven Aftergood, “House Renews Ban on CRS Publication of Its Reports.”
I find this particularly frustrating in light of the House recently holding its fourth annual Legislative Data and Transparency Conference (LDTC). Danial Schuman Reported significant successes from the LDTC including modernization efforts around House committee hearing reports and the new “legislative lookup and link” tool as well as Government Publishing Office (GPO) about to release in bulk bill status and summary information for Senate legislation and Library of Congress moving to update Congress.gov on a more frequent basis.
With all this great work on Congressional transparency, how can Congress continue to ban the distribution and access to CRS reports? It reminds me of something Adam Gopnik recently wrote in a New Yorker article The Plot Against Trains, saying sadly that ideology “give[s] you reasons not to pursue your own apparent rational interest.” He was talking about trains, but I would add schools, libraries, post offices, and yes government information to that list.
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) will continue to be barred from releasing its reports to the public, the House Appropriations Committee said yesterday in its report on legislative branch appropriations for the coming year.
“The bill contains language which provides that no funds in the Congressional Research Service can be used to publish or prepare material to be issued by the Library of Congress unless approved by the appropriate committees,” the House report said….
…In a move that is perhaps even more worrisome for CRS, “The Committee directs the Library of Congress to commission an independent survey of all Members and committees of the House of Representatives to ascertain their fundamental and optimal requirements for services and support from the Library of Congress and especially the Congressional Research Service.”
The problem here is that the CRS services that congressional offices are likely to find most “useful” are not necessarily those that are most “valuable.”
GPO FY13 budget approved by Senate Appropriations Committee
Last week, the Senate Appropriations Committee reported out the Legislative Branch 2013 budget. According to the August 2, 2012 press release, GPO’s budget request was fully funded and will include:
- $83.7 million for Congressional Printing and Binding
- $34.7 million for Salaries and Expenses of the Superintendent of Documents
- $7.8 million for the revolving fund
- $126.2 million total
Government Printing Office – $126.2 million – This funding level is identical to the fiscal year 2012 enacted level in total funding. At the recommended levels, Congressional Printing and Binding will be funded at $83.632 million. This is a 7.8% reduction from the fiscal year 2012 enacted level and is identical to the request level. Within this reduced funding level, full funding is provided for printing the 2012 edition of the U.S. Code, which is published every six years under authority of Title 2, U.S. Code.
The amount recommended for Salaries and Expenses is $34.7 million, which is a reduction of $272,000 from the enacted level. This funding level would allow the GPO to continue mission requirements ordered by the Congress.
The bill would provide $7.8 million for GPO’s Revolving Fund for critical maintenance of printing systems. Of this amount:
- $3.4 million is for Information Technology Projects such as development of a replacement system for the XML system, and replacement of systems critical to GPO’s network security monitoring and protection;
- $3.8 million is for Federal Digital System Projects; and
- $460,000 is for fire and safety projects at GPO facilities.
Also in the bill, the Library of Congress’ budget allocation is slated for $592.2 million. The bill would provide an additional $4.9 million for the LOC, which is an increase of 0.8% above the fiscal year 2012 enacted level. This funding level assumes current staffing levels.
There’s still some haggling to be done with House Legislative Branch FY13 appropriations bill — most notably the revolving fund is only budgeted at $4,096,000 rather than the Senate’s proposed $7.8 million. Stay tuned!
GPO’s fiscal 2012 appropriations cut drastically #FDLP
Amidst the turmoil of GPO Public Printer Bill Boarman being forced to step down after not receiving a vote on his confirmation, there’s this news that GPO’s 2012 appropriations have been drastically cut.
While Boarman’s approval did not go through Congress, GPO’s fiscal 2012 funding did, in a spending bill approved by the House and Senate, known as an omnibus because it consolidates a majority of individual spending bills. The bill secured Senate passage Dec. 17 in a 67-32 vote a day after the House approved it 296-121. President Obama is expected to sign the bill into law.
The bill funds GPO at $90.7 million in fiscal 2012. The budget authority is almost $45 million less than GPO’s fiscal 2011 funding level of $135 million, and close to $48 million less than the White House’s fiscal 2012 budget request of $148.5 million. GPO will also get $500,000 to its revolving fund for information technology development, according to a report (.pdf) accompanying the bill.
House Appropriations Committee’s majority spokesperson Jennifer Hing said language in an earlier House version of the bill requiring the Government Accountability Office to conduct a feasibility study on GPO operations stands.
In July, the House legislative branch appropriations bill, H.R. 2551 (.pdf), highlighted the need to modernize GPO programs. In the report (.pdf) accompanying the bill, lawmakers said they had “some concern about the future of the GPO as a viable printing operation for the federal government.” It also suggested GPO might be privatized, since it already contracts out more than 90 percent of its printing requisitions.
Committee members said a GAO report should examine whether the General Services Administration could take over printing duties for the executive branch and the remainder of the GPO could be privatized. Such a plan would involve transfer of the Superintendent of Documents program to the Library of Congress.
Petition to save the American Community Survey
May 22, 2012 / 2 Comments on Petition to save the American Community Survey
We’ve been tracking on HR 5326 “Making appropriations for the Departments of Commerce and Justice, Science, and Related Agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2013” and more specifically the Webster-Lankford amendment (which passed the House on May 9, 2012 by a vote of 232 – 190) which cuts funding for the American Community Survey. Data collected by the ACS are used by policy makers to determine the distribution of federal funding for everything from schools to roads and bridges, to emergency services and Medicaid benefits — and is of vital interest to researchers, teachers, students and the public to learn more about and track on issues important to their communities.
If you care about this vital program, please sign the Save the American Community Survey petition. It’s crucial that our Federal lawmakers know about the public’s concern, and understand why they need the ACS to do their very jobs!
UPDATE 5/22/12 noon PST: The Sunday NY Times, in an article entitled “The Beginning of the End of the Census?” put it succinctly:
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