Making Congressional Research Publicly Available

"The Congressional Research Service investigates important issues and produces detailed, well-written reports that are available to members of Congress but not the general public. A resolution has been introduced in the Senate to make these reports freely available online. It would be an important step forward for government openness, and it would narrow the information gap between Washington insiders and ordinary Americans.

Washington lobbyists and special interests can get the reports from contacts in Congress or from a company that collects the reports and resells them. Ordinary Americans without contacts or research budgets are often denied this taxpayer-financed research.

A resolution sponsored by Senator Joseph Lieberman, independent of Connecticut, would require that the research service’s reports be posted on its Web site. The resolution makes an exception for information that is truly confidential.

For the resolution to become law, it needs to be passed by the Senate Rules Committee. Senator Charles Schumer, Democrat of New York and chairman of the panel, has not endorsed Mr. Lieberman’s resolution, but he is working on a plan that would make the research reports publicly available. However it happens, the reports should be put online for all Americans to access free."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/12/opinion/12tue3.html?th&emc=th