CRS Resolution Introduced in the House
Yesterday advances were made in improving transparency in the federal government. Reps. Mike Quigley (IL-5) and Leonard Lance (NJ-07) introduced the Congressional Research Service Electronic Accessibility Resolution of 2012 (House Resolution 727), a resolution that creates a publicly available database of Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports and would thereby “enhance our democracy to provide citizens with access to unbiased and accurate CRS documents on legislation and other critical issues before Congress”.
This bipartisan resolution would provide public access to all CRS reports that do not contain confidential information (in some cases redactions could be made to allow portions of reports to be released). The resolution would provide access to those who fund this research –the public – at a price tag of $100 million a year.
The American Library Association commends Reps. Quigley and Lance, as well as the resolution’s co-sponsors; Reps. Jim Cooper (TN-5), Timothy V. Johnson (IL-15) and Adam B. Schiff (CA-29), for taking this important step to increasing transparency and improving access to publicly funded government information. The ALA strongly supports this resolution and will work towards its passage.