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Update on CRS Reports Access
Senator Lieberman urged the new Chairman of the Senate Rules Committee, Senator Chuck Schumer, to help foster better public access to CRS Reports. Perhaps our letters to Congressmen on this issue helped spur this on? One can hope, right? Oh, let me believe it is so! ;-) Here are some excerpts from Lieberman's letter to Chairman Schumer:
Given their value to constituents, I strongly believe that we need a system that ensures widespread public access to CRS reports. Last Congress, I introduced S. Res. 401 along with Senators McCain, Collins, Cornyn, Feingold, Harkin, Leahy, Lugar, and McCaskill, to create such as system. A few months after the introduction of our bill, the Rules Committee authorized the Director of CRS to develop a system that would allow Senators to place individual CRS reports on their official website and would have them automatically updated. I was pleased by this development, but it does not go far enough. I believe a more effective system would provide constituents with tools similar to those used by Congressional staff, with material presented by topic and the capability to search across all reports and issue briefs. Unfortunately, the present system does not allow this basic level of functionality. A robust system would also help restore the equity of access that is sorely needed. For years, CRS reports have been sold by companies to those who can afford to pay. Non-profit groups have also begun posting these reports for free on their websites. Earlier this month, thousands of reports – representing several years’ worth of work by CRS analysts – were placed on the wikileaks.org site. These ad hoc efforts allow more reports to enter the public domain, but they do not ensure the dissemination of the most accurate and up-to-date information. Nor are they likely to be discovered by all those who might desire the reports. These developments only highlight the need for an officially-sanctioned system such as the one I have proposed. By establishing a clearinghouse that would offer all reports and would be automatically updated, we could ensure that those with power and those without have equal access to this important resource. I hope that in your new role as Chairman of the Rules Committee you carefully review this issue and consider recommending the creation of a more comprehensive system so that CRS reports can be easily accessed by the taxpayers who pay for them.I look forward to watching further developments. In the mean time, continue to contact your Congressmen (and Senator Schumer!) as instructed in my previous posts, CRS Reports to the People! Parts One and Two. Continue reading
CRS Reports to the People! Part II
My earlier post, CRS Reports to the People!, dealt with which congressmen to contact and which congressmen sponsored what bills in the past, etc. But now I would like to offer some sample letters that you can emulate and send. I sent all of mine just after the inauguration of President Obama and will let you know what kinds of responses I get. Here is a sample letter to send to those who have sponsored similar bills about publicly releasing all CRS Reports in the past (be sure to refer to my previous post that lists all these bills and their sponsors in your letter!):
The Honorable [full name] [Room #] [Name] Senate [or] House Office Building United States House of Representatives [or] United States Senate Washington, DC 20515 Dear Senator: or Dear Representative: Due to your [introduction/co-sponsorship] of BILL [X], I am writing to seek your support yet again in addressing the need for making Congressional Research Service Reports available to the public in a way that they can be easily obtained. American taxpayers spend nearly $100 million a year to fund the Congressional Research Service, yet it remains cumbersome to acquire these informative reports. Several libraries and non-profit organizations have sought to collect as many of the released reports as possible. Unfortunately, there is no feasible way to obtain all CRS reports, therefore, I believe that it would be best if Congress made all CRS Reports available to the public online. President Obama has demonstrated and fosters the spirit of open access and transparency during his administration, as a Government Documents Librarian and contributor for the Free Government Information website [list your credentials, affiliations, etc. or simply say "as a tax paying citizen], I strongly believe that there is no greater time than now to address the need for the availability of these educational and beneficial reports to the public. Thank you for your attention. I look forward to your reply. Sincerely, [Your Name] [Your official title/degree credentials] [Contact Address and Email]If the Congressmen you are writing to have not sponsored a bill related to the public release of all CRS Reports, then use this nearly identical form letter:
The Honorable [full name] [Room #] [Name] Senate [or] House Office Building United States House of Representatives [or] United States Senate Washington, DC 20515 Dear Senator: or Dear Representative: I am writing to seek your support in addressing the need for making Congressional Research Service Reports available to the public in a way that they can be easily obtained. Previous bills addressing this topic have been introduced by Congressmen, but were unsuccessful. Most recently, these included H.R. 2545 (2007) and S. Res. 401 (2007). American taxpayers spend nearly $100 million a year to fund the Congressional Research Service, yet it remains cumbersome to acquire these informative reports. Several libraries and non-profit organizations have sought to collect as many of the released reports as possible. Unfortunately, there is no feasible way to obtain all CRS reports, therefore, I believe that it would be best if Congress made all CRS Reports available to the public. President Obama has demonstrated and fosters the spirit of open access and transparency during his administration, as a Government Documents Librarian and contributor for the Free Government Information website [list your credentials, affiliations, etc. or simply say "as a tax paying citizen], I strongly believe that there is no greater time than now to address the need for the availability of these educational and beneficial reports to the public. Thank you for your attention. I look forward to your reply. Sincerely, [Your Name] [Your official title/degree credentials] [Contact Address and Email]Continue reading
CRS reports released on WikiLeaks
WikiLeaks has release 6,780 Congressional Research Service reports. The oldest report released goes back to 1990, but WikiLeaks says that the release of these reports "represents the total output of the Congressional Research Service (CRS) electronically available to Congressional offices." WikiLeaks has merged its report collection with the reports into OpenCRS, has set up mirror sites, and made the collection downloadable in compressed form and via Torrent. There is an alphabetical list of reports and a Chronological list.
- Change you can download: a billion in secret Congressional reports, EDITORIAL, WikiLeaks, February 8, 2009.
CRS reports to be released
Wikileaks plans to release nearly 10,000 Congressional Research Service reports. See: Wikileaks and CRS, Clay Shirky, Jan 28, 2009. Continue reading
CRS report on Presidential Libraries
Presidential Libraries: The Federal System and Related Legislation, by Harold C. Relyea, updated November 26, 2008, Order Code RS20825. (PDF, 6 pp). Thanks to FAS. Continue reading
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