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Bill to Put CRS Reports on the Internet

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Date: Sat, 20 Dec 1997 14:28:57 -0500 From: Gary Ruskin

Congressional Reform Briefings December 19, 1997

To subscribe to Congressional Reform Briefings send the message: subscribe CONG-REFORM your name to listproc@essential.org

-- Help needed on a bill to put Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports and products on the Internet. Please contact your U.S. senators to support it.

OVERVIEW: U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) announced two days ago that he will introduce legislation to put Congressional Research Service products on the Internet, including CRS Issue and Legislative Briefs, and Authorization and Appropriation products.

CRS reports are some of the best research done by the federal government. They are an extremely valuable trove of government information, on a wide range of topics. In an editorial today, Roll Call wrote that CRS reports are "often the most trenchant and useful monographs available on a subject." ("Online Leadership," Roll Call, December 18, 1997.) Citizens, scholars, journalists, librarians, and many others have long wanted access to CRS reports via the Internet.

Citizens cannot obtain most CRS products directly. Instead, we must engage in the burdensome and time-consuming process of requesting a member of Congress to send CRS products to us. Often, citizens must wait for weeks or even months before such a request is filled. This barrier to obtaining CRS products serves no useful purpose, and harms citizens' ability to participate in the congressional legislative process.

We do not believe that an act of Congress is needed to place CRS reports on the Internet. Our analysis is that either House Oversight Committee Chairman Bill Thomas (R-CA) or Senate Rules Committee Chairman John Warner (R-VA) could place CRS reports on the Internet. But they have been unwilling to do so.

McCain's bill does have a flaw (see attached discussion draft.) As currently drafted, the bill would place CRS reports on the Internet at least 60 days after Members of Congress can read them. This 60 day time lag makes no sense. Since some issues are dealt with quickly by Congress, it is conceivable that, under McCain's bill, Congress could complete action on an issue before the relevant CRS materials would be placed on the Internet.

Senator McCain's bill is, in general, a good one, and it needs your support.

We need to get as many senators as possible to co-sponsor it. So, please e-mail, call, write, or fax your senators to encourage them to co-sponsor Senator McCain's bill. Encourage your colleagues and friends to contact their senators too. McCain's bill doesn't have a bill number yet, so you'll just have to describe it as Senator McCain's bill to put CRS reports and products on the Internet. The Congressional switchboard phone is (202) 224-3121. For a list of the e-mail addresses of Members of Congress, send a request to .

You may also want to thank Senator McCain for introducing this bill, and to encourage him to eliminate the "60 day time lag" provision. (Phone: 202-224-2235, fax: 202-228-2862, e-mail:.)

BACKGROUND: Following is Senator McCain's news release:

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U.S. Senator John McCain * Arizona

For Immediate Release For More Information Contact: Wednesday, December 17, 1997 Nancy Ives (202) 224-7130

McCAIN TO INTRODUCE BILL TO MAKE CRS PRODUCTS AVAILABLE ON THE INTERNET

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- In an effort to provide the public with access to Congressional Research Service products paid for with millions of taxpayer dollars, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain (R-AZ) announced his intention to introduce legislation in early 1998 that would make them accessible via the Internet.

"Taxpayers have footed the bill for these high-quality, detailed public policy and research reports for years and deserve access to their contents," McCain said. "In making this information readily available, constituents will have access to documents widely used for congressional decision-making."

Expected to be introduced shortly after Congress convenes at the end of January, the legislation would require general reports issued by CRS to be made available on-line, so that citizens with access to the Internet would be able to retrieve them.

In fiscal year '98, CRS is funded with $64.6 million from the Legislative Appropriations bill. Products to be made available to the public include: Issue and Legislative Briefs, and Authorization and Appropriation products that describe each bill and break out how the funds will be directed.

"The Internet provides an ideal way to provide the public with access to valuable and educational research and information, which they paid for with their taxpayer dollars," McCain said.

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In August, 1997 nearly 650 organizations and citizens sent a letter to House Oversight Committee Chairman Bill Thomas and Senate Rules Committee Chairman John Warner urging them to place CRS reports and products on the Internet. Following is the text of the letter, with selected co-signers.

August 6, 1997

Honorable William Thomas, Chairman Committee on House Oversight United States House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515

Honorable John Warner, Chairman Committee on Rules United States Senate Washington, DC 20510

RE: Placing Congressional Research Service Reports and Products on the Internet

Dear Chairmen Thomas and Warner:

On June 25th, the Joint Committee on the Library of Congress appointed a task force consisting of Senator Thad Cochran (R-MS) and Representative Vern Ehlers (R-MI) to recommend whether some Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports and products should be made available to the public via the Internet. We are concerned that the appointment of a task force will simply delay placing CRS products on the Internet.

As Chairmen of the internal administrative committees of the House of Representatives and Senate, each of you has the authority at present to place CRS products on the Internet. Many of these CRS products are currently available to Members of Congress and their staffs on an internal congressional intranet. We are writing to urge you to place all generic CRS products on the Internet, which would improve citizens' ability to identify and obtain them.

The Congressional Research Service is a taxpayer-funded research organization within the Library of Congress, with an annual budget of nearly $63 million. It is a research arm of the U. S. Congress, staffed by hundreds of talented independent issue experts who prepare valuable reports and information products, including CRS Reports, Info Packs, Issue Briefs, and Audio Briefs. During fiscal year 1996, CRS prepared more than 1,000 new written research products for the Congress.

But Congress distributes few CRS products via the Internet. Citizens cannot obtain most CRS products directly. Instead, we must engage in the burdensome and time-consuming process of requesting a member of Congress to send CRS products to us. Often, citizens must wait for weeks or even months before such a request is filled. This barrier to obtaining CRS products serves no useful purpose, and harms citizens' ability to participate in the congressional legislative process.

Instead of waiting for a member of Congress to send CRS products, citizens may purchase them from a commercial vendor. For example, Penny Hill Press charges an annual subscription rate of $190 per year plus $2.75 per CRS report plus 2.5 cents per page. Nonsubscribers pay $47 for up to five CRS reports.

House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA) has repeatedly supported placing congressional materials on the Internet. On November 11, 1994, in a speech to the Washington Research Group Symposium, he promised that "we will change the rules of the House to require that all documents and all conference reports and all committee reports be filed electronically as well as in writing and that they cannot be filed until they are available to any citizen who wants to pull them up. Thus, information will be available to every citizen in the country at the same moment it is available to the highest paid Washington lobbyist."

Despite Speaker Gingrich's speech more than 2 = years ago, most CRS products are available electronically only to Members of Congress and their staffs. On June 5, 1997, CRS Director Daniel Mulhollan boasted in testimony to Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch that "the CRS Home Page makes available online exclusively to congressional offices all CRS issue briefs and numerous reports....Through our Home Page the Congress has integrated access to a wide range of products and information. This service is now readily accessible electronically to Members and staff 24 hours a day." But not to citizens.

Nothing in the statutory charter of the CRS, or any other federal law or House or Senate rule, prevents Congress from placing these CRS products on the Internet. No change in federal law, nor House nor Senate Rule is required to place CRS products on the Internet. Neither the Joint Committee on the Library, nor the Senate Rules Committee, nor the House Oversight Committee need approve placing CRS products on the Internet. This is an internal administrative matter. Both Chairman Thomas and Chairman Warner separately have the authority to place CRS products on the House and Senate World Wide Web sites.

Although the 105th and 104th Congresses have made an effort to place some congressional documents on the Internet, many important congressional materials are still not available on the Internet, including most committee prints and discussion drafts of bills, chairman's marks, voting records in a non-partisan database, most transcripts of hearings, texts of committee and floor amendments, transcripts of committee mark-ups, franked mass mailings, lobbyist disclosure reports, Statements of Disbursements of the House, and Secretary of the Senate reports.

In his House and Senate testimony, CRS Director Mulhollan highlighted the benefits that the CRS provides to new Members of Congress. He noted that CRS "offer[s] assistance tailored to the unique needs of new Members." Many of those needs are for general briefing materials on substantive and procedural matters. Such briefing materials could be of great use to citizens as well. James Madison aptly described the need for such public information when he wrote that "A popular government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or, perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance: And a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power that knowledge gives."

The Congressional Research Service produces some of the best research in the federal government. We believe that taxpayers ought to be able to read the research that we pay for. We urge you to place these valuable CRS products -- including CRS Reports, Info Packs, Issue Briefs, and Audio Briefs -- on the Internet.

Sincerely,

Gary Ruskin, Director, Congressional Accountability Project James Love, Director, Consumer Project on Technology David A. Keene, Chairman, American Conservative Union David Peyton, Director, Technology Policy, National Association of Manufacturers Ann McBride, President, Common Cause Peter J. Sepp, Vice-President for Communications, National Taxpayers Union Steve Geimann, President, Society of Professional Journalists Lori Fena, Executive Director, Electronic Frontier Foundation Michael F. Jacobson, Executive Director, Center for Science in the Public Interest Kent Cooper, Executive Director, Center for Responsive Politics James L. Martin, President, 60 Plus Association John R. MacArthur, President and Publisher, Harper's Magazine Sandra L. Butler, President, United Seniors Association Ralph De Gennaro, Executive Director, Taxpayers for Common Sense Aki Namioka, President, Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility

Brant Houston, President, Investigative Reporters and Editors Jim Warren, columnist, open-government advocate and Editor, GovAccess Lynn Chadwick, President & CEO, National Federation of Community Broadcasters Kim Alexander, Executive Director, California Voter Foundation John J. Shanahan, Vice Admiral USN (Ret.), Director, Center for Defense Information Scott Bennett, University Librarian, Yale University Amy Moritz Ridenour, President, National Center for Public Policy Research James Neff, Director, Kiplinger Reporting Program, Ohio State University

Audrie Krause, Executive Director, NetAction Patrick Grace, Managing Librarian, Seattle Public Library Lucinda Sikes, Staff Attorney, Public Citizen Litigation Group Shabbir J. Safdar, Co-founder, Voters Telecommunications Watch Patrice McDermott, Information Policy Analyst, OMB Watch Steven Aftergood, Senior Research Analyst, Federation of American Scientists

cc: Honorable Conrad Burns Honorable Thad Cochran Honorable Vernon Ehlers Honorable Newt Gingrich Honorable Ted Stevens Honorable Rick White

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Following is Senator McCain's draft bill:

DISCUSSION DRAFT S.L.C.

105TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION

S IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

Mr.McCAIN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on

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A BILL To make available on the Internet, for purposes of access and retrieval by the public, certain information available through the Congressional Research Service web site.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa 2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 3 SECTION 1. AVAILABILITY OF CERTAIN CRS WEB SITE IN- 4 FORMATION. 5 (a) AVAILABILITY OF INFORMATION. 6 (1) IN GENERAL.~The Director of the Con- 7 gressional Research Service shall make available on 8 the Internet, for purposes of access and retrieval by 9 the public, all information that - 1 (A) is available through the Congressional 2 Research Service web site; 3 (B) is described in paragraph (2); and 4 (C) is not confidential as determined by 5 the Director. 6 (2) INFORMATION.~The information referred 7 to in paragraph (1)(B) is as follows: 8 (A) All Congressional Research Service 9 Issue Briefs. 10 (B) All Congressional Research Service Re 11 ports that are available to Members of Congress 12 through the Congressional Research Service 13 web site. 14 (C) All Congressional Research Service Au 15 thorization of Appropriations Products or Ap 16 propriations Products. 17 (b) TIME.-The information shall be so made avail 18 able not earlier than 60 days after the first day the infor 19 mation is available to Members of Congress through the 20 Congressional Research Service web site. 21 (c) REQUIREMENTS.~The Director of the Congres 22 sional Research Service shall make the information avail 23 able in a manner that the Director determines 24 (1) is practical and reasonable; and 1 (2) does not permit the submission of comments 2 from the public.

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The Congressional Accountability Project is a Congressional watchdog group affiliated with Ralph Nader. For more information about the Congressional Accountability Project, direct your web browser to or send e-mail to .

For more information about the failure of the Congress to place its documents on the Internet, see .

For more information about the long list of excellent reports produced by the Congressional Research Service, look at the web page for Penny Hill Press, which sells CRS products. .

To subscribe to Congressional Reform Briefings send the message: subscribe CONG-REFORM your name to listproc@essential.org

PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY

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