Some Congressional Research Service Reports Are Now Online
Reports of the Congressional Research Service, provided at $100 million in annual taxpayer expense to brief members of Congress on current issues but not released to the public, are now available online from several independent sources, most notably OpenCRS, a project of the Center for Democracy and Technology. The reports are now released to the public and have historically be available only through requests to members of Congress. OpenCRS and The University of North Texas Libraries, working with a grant from the American Library Association, have now begun posting or linking to those that have been privately collected. The North Texas collection, for instance, includes some 6,500 reports dating back to 1990. The Center for Democracy and Technology, working with five public advocacy groups, has put 3,300 reports, and thousands of updates of those reports, on line. (6/28/05)