Transparency in Government Act 2008

TITLE III - Enhancing Public Access to Congressional Research Service Information

Summary:

Provides Internet access to Congressional Research Service publications.


Additional Information:

See also the CRS section of the Open House Project report.

  1. Sec. 301. Availability of certain Congressional Research Service Information. (2 Comments)

    1. Availability of Information-

      1. IN GENERAL- The Sergeant-at-Arms of the Senate, in consultation with the Director of the Congressional Research Service, shall make available through a centralized electronic system, for purposes of access and retrieval by the public under section 4 of this resolution, all information described in paragraph (2) that is available through the Congressional Research Service Web site.

      2. INFORMATION TO BE MADE AVAILABLE- The information to be made available under paragraph (1) is:

        1. Congressional Research Service Issue Briefs.

        2. Congressional Research Service Reports that are available to Members of Congress through the Congressional Research Service Web site.

        3. Congressional Research Service Authorization of Appropriations Products and Appropriations Products.

    2. Limitations-

      1. CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION- Subsection (a) does not apply to-

        1. any information that is confidential, as determined by--

          1. the Director; or

          2. the head of a Federal department or agency that provided the information to the Congressional Research Service; or

        2. any documents that are the product of an individual, office, or committee research request (other than a document described in subsection (a)(2)).

      2. REDACTION AND REVISION- In carrying out this section, the Sergeant-at-Arms of the Senate, in consultation with the Director of the Congressional Research Service, may-

        1. remove from the information required to be made available under subsection (a) the name and phone number of, and any other information regarding, an employee of the Congressional Research Service;

        2. remove from the information required to be made available under subsection (a) any material for which the Director determines that making it available under subsection (a) may infringe the copyright of a work protected under title 17, United States Code; and

        3. make any changes in the information required to be made available under subsection (a) that the Director determines necessary to ensure that the information is accurate and current.

    3. MANNER- The Sergeant-at-Arms of the Senate, in consultation with the Director of the Congressional Research Service, shall make the information required under this section available in a manner that is practical and reasonable.

    Rationale:

    CRS reports are important tools Members of Congress use to educate themselves on an extremely broad range of issues. They are available on an ad hoc basis when non-profit organizations or Members make them public on their own Web sites, and when profit-making companies make them available for a fee. A fairer system would ensure that all members of the public, regardless of their ability to pay, are able to search for and access reports. See S. Res. 401

    Recent comments on Sec. 301

    (View all 2 comments | Add a comment)
    1. Ari Schwartz, CDT:

      While the spirit of the idea of not relying on what the document is called is in the right place, striking B(1)(b) would be a mistake politically. The biggest complaint that we hear from Congressional staff is that their "internal memos" will be made public. The broad language in B(1)(b) ensures that won't happen. I do agree that the Director ...

      April 24, 2008

    2. ds:

      For (a)(2), I would suggest that it instead include all information, regardless of what it is called, subject only the limitation in part b. Then add that some examples of products to be made available include issue briefs (and successor documents), reports on the CRS web site, etc. Then strike B(1)(b) For limitations, I should suggest that the Director be ...

      March 28, 2008

  2. Sec. 302. Method of access. (4 Comments)

    1. Public access to information made available under section 301 shall be provided through the Web sites maintained by the Secretary of the Senate.

    2. EDITORIAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR CRS REPORTS ONLINE- The Sergeant-at-Arms of the Senate is responsible for maintaining and updating the information made available on the Internet under section 2.

    Rationale:

    It is critical that the CRS documents be located in one centralized location for ease of access.

    Recent comments on Sec. 302

    (View all 4 comments | Add a comment)
    1. Bob Schmitt:

      Data should be available in plain text (or CSV or tab-delimited format) and formatted versions. At least one form needs to be ADA-friendly. And all interfaces should pass W3C conformance tests for html and css.

      April 15, 2008

    2. Jason M. Waldo:

      All information should be available regardless of the platform used to access that information. Use of closed source products that deny or limit access to users of open source or other closed source software should be completely banned.

      April 4, 2008

    3. ds:

      add that older versions of the report should be maintained online, and designated as such (by date).

      March 28, 2008

  3. Sec. 303. Implementation. (1 Comment)

    The Sergeant-at-Arms of the Senate shall establish the database described in section 2(a) within 6 months after the date of adoption of this resolution.

    Rationale:

    Six months is sufficient time to develop a system to make CRS reports available to the public. Any further delay keeps this information from the public for longer than necessary.

    Recent comment on Sec. 303

    (View 1 comment | Add a comment)
    1. James Jacobs (Free Government Information):

      I'm glad that CRS reports have been included in this legislation. I'd add that, as Josh T. pointed out, this and all govt data should adhere to the open data principles (http://wiki.opengovdata.org/index.php/OpenDataPrinciples) and that there be some mecahanism whereby GPO gets copies of all CRS reports and MUST distribute them to libraries in the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP). (Can ...

      March 31, 2008

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