Report - Section A
Special Thanks
Executive Summary
Recommendations
Washington's Best Kept Secret
CRS Products
CRS Websites
Comparison of LIS and THOMAS
Well Known to Lobbyists

Report - Section B
The CRS Argument for Secrecy
Bipartisan Support for Making CRS Reports Public
Recommendations

To Print this Report
Report - Section A
Report - Section B
Report - Appendix to print the Appendix use the file then print button in your browser .

• The Congressional Research Service (CRS), an arm of the U.S. Congress, authors such products as Reports to Congress, Issue Briefs, and Authorization and Appropriations Reports.
  
  
• CRS also operates both the CRS website (www.crs.gov) and the Legislative Information System (LIS) website (www.congress.gov). The LIS varies substantially from the system which is available to the public at the Library of Congress' THOMAS website (http://thomas.loc.gov). In fact, CRS has a special page detailing the enhanced capabilities of its restricted LIS website over the public THOMAS website, such as up-to-the-minute floor and committee schedules.
  
  
• Neither CRS's products nor its websites are readily available to the public. CRS products are only available to the public if one knows exactly where to go: A citizen must request them from his or her Member of Congress, undertake an exhaustive and time-consuming search for them, or pay for them. There is no predictable method of finding a report, as various outlets offer different reports. None of the free 1 websites lists all of the CRS reports available to the public. The official CRS websites are not available to the public at all. To prevent public access to its websites, CRS has erected an elaborate firewall. As a Congressional entity, CRS is not subject to the Freedom of Information Act and CRS does not answer direct public inquiries.
  
  
• Taxpayers pay for CRS products and for both CRS websites in addition to THOMAS. Private vendors such as Lexis, Penny Hill Press, and Westlaw sell some of these taxpayer-funded CRS products.
  
  
• Former Members of Congress, many of whom become lobbyists, can request current CRS publications and limited reference assistance. There are over 150 registered lobbyists who are former Members of Congress. Entities such as corporations, universities, and localities who can afford these high-priced lobbyists have access to current CRS publications that the general American public does not.
  
  
• While CRS has testified and written policy positions opposing the dissemination of its products to the public, other legislative agencies with functions similar to those of the CRS - the General Accounting Office (GAO) and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) - have made their products available to the public without compromising their responsibilities to Congress, relinquishing their constitutional protections, or violating any legal prohibitions.

Recommendations

• CRS products such as Reports to Congress, Issue Briefs, and Authorization and Appropriations Reports should be made readily available to the general public. The Library of Congress should seek to bolster the public THOMAS website to include as much information from the CRS and LIS websites as possible.

The Congressional Research Service (CRS) is a department within the Library of Congress. It acts as an arm of the U.S. Congress, researching and reporting on topics of interest to Congress. It then issues the information in both print and web form as CRS products. Its work provides Senators, Representatives, and their staffs with high quality non-partisan research and analysis. CRS had 694 employees and a budget of over $81 million during the Fiscal Year 2002.

According to the mission statement of the Library of Congress, "the unifying purpose of providing the public with essential library services, such as cataloging and reference help, is to afford as much access to useful information as possible to each of these three constituencies [Congress, the U.S. government more broadly, and the public]."3 Despite this, however, Congress has dictated since 1952 that it has control and custody of CRS products and that those products may be released only by Congress. (Appendix A, p. CRS-2) As CRS currently states on its report covers, "The Congressional Research Service works exclusively for the Congress, conducting research, analyzing legislation, and providing information at the request of committees, Members, and their staffs." Those who elect the legislators are being denied direct access to a major wealth of information that directly affects the decisions of those who legislate.

Making certain types of CRS products and its websites widely available to the public would provide citizens with the type of high quality information necessary to actively and knowledgeably participate in public debate about current issues and the workings of our government.

This report does not seek to promote changes to CRS research methods or products, but only to their availability.


CRS Products

CRS's products include briefs, reports, short issue papers and longer position papers. These products provide research and policy analyses including scientific, economic, and legislative analyses; background analyses; pro and con arguments; and legislative histories.4 CRS goes to great lengths to ensure that all sides of an issue are clearly presented and that its products are both simple and easy to understand, making these reports an invaluable asset to public debate.

Recent CRS products include "Across-the-Board Tax Cuts: Economic Issues," "Afghanistan: Current Issues and U.S. Policy Concerns," "Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty Demarcation and Succession Agreements: Background and Issues," "Middle East: Attitudes Toward the United States," "Global Climate Change," and "Iraq: Divergent Views on Military Action."


CRS Websites

In addition to these products, current Members of Congress and their offices both in Washington and in their home districts have access to the CRS website and to CRS's Legislative Information Service (LIS) website. These sites are the most comprehensive and integrated sources of information regarding workings of the federal government, and are arguably the best sources of information regarding the legislative process of the United States.

Not only is all proposed legislation available on these sites, but all information necessary to become informed about any aspect of government is available there as well. They have the information needed to keep up-to-the-minute on most legislation including information from past bills similar to the current legislation; historical information about the legislation; biographical data about the Members who introduced it; the ability to track the legislation as it moves through committee hearings to the Floor; and links to information about the legislation in the Congressional Record, Floor and committee schedule information, and the Federal Register. (Appendix B)

The CRS website (www.crs.gov) provides CRS publications on current legislative issues, electronic briefing books, information on the legislative and budget processes, a searchable database of all CRS products, and other information about Congressional procedures and activities.

The LIS website (www.congress.gov) is specifically designed to track legislation and legislative activity. According to the CRS, "The LIS ... provides bill summary and status, full text of legislation and public laws, full text of committee reports, hearings, and other documents, and the Congressional Record for the current and earlier Congresses. The system also gives (and is searchable by) committee, sponsorship, and cosponsorship; identification of identical bills; and other information."5 The LIS varies substantially from the system which is available to the public at the Library of Congress' THOMAS website (thomas.loc.gov). In fact, CRS has a special page detailing the enhanced capabilities of the restricted LIS website over the public THOMAS website.

Neither of these websites are available to the public, even though knowing what is happening when it is happening would be enormously empowering to citizens, activists, journalists, and academics following legislation.

In order to prevent public access to the websites, CRS has erected an elaborate firewall to keep the public out. In fact, when the public tries to access the LIS, they are automatically forwarded to THOMAS without warning. Taxpayers pay for both CRS systems in addition to THOMAS, yet are only allowed access to THOMAS.

The following is CRS's comparison of the two websites 6:

Last updated March 2002


Well Known to Lobbyists

Unfortunately, neither CRS's products nor its websites are readily available to the public. CRS, like other Congressional entities, is not subject to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), nor does it answer direct public inquiries. To receive a copy of a report, a citizen must request it from his or her Member of Congress, personally conduct an exhaustive search through various websites that may or may not have it, or buy it from a private company.

Although CRS states that it is "well known, both in Washington, D.C. and by interested parties throughout the country, that constituents may obtain copies of CRS written products through a Member or Committee of Congress," (Appendix A, p. CRS-4) CRS is actually not publicized at all even inside Washington, D.C. Furthermore, most Members of Congress do not currently publicize the availability of CRS or its products on their websites. Therefore, the vast majority of people outside Washington would have no way of knowing of its existence.

Even when constituents are aware of CRS and its products, Congressional staff are not always willing or able to provide copies of reports in a timely manner. While there are several websites which offer some CRS reports to those citizens who are aware of the service, the sites are frequently incomplete, out of date, and sometimes charge a fee for this publicly-funded research.

Independent companies obtain CRS reports from Capitol Hill sources and sell the reports or access to the reports. For example, reports from Penny Hill Press cost $29.95 each, or $7.95 for subscribers. A subscription is $299 per year or $549 for two years. Another company, IssueBrief.net, offers HTML reports for free but charges for downloaded PDF files. They have daily, weekly, and monthly fees for access to reports in PDF format. Sources told POGO that Westlaw and Lexis send representatives to Congressional offices to collect new CRS reports to place for sale on their respective websites. Penny Hill Press stated that the CRS reports they have for sale come from different sources throughout Washington.

The only people off Capitol Hill to whom the availability of CRS products may be well known are lobbyists. Former Members of Congress, many of whom become lobbyists, can request current CRS publications and limited reference assistance. Currently, there are over 150 registered lobbyists who are former Members of Congress.(Appendix C) Entities such as corporations, universities, and localities who can afford these high-priced lobbyists have access to CRS publications that the general American public does not.