For immediate release:
March 29, 2007
Contact:
Ari Schwartz, CDT
(202) 637-9800 x107
Patrice McDermott, OpenTheGovernment.org
(202) 332-6736
Groups Urge Lawmakers to Make CRS Reports Available Online
WASHINGTON -- Congress must make the critical, taxpayer-funded
reports produced by the Congressional Research Service (CRS)
available to the public over the Internet, a group of public interest
advocates told congressional leaders today.
In letters to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic and
Republican leaders of the House Rules and Senate Rules and
Administration Committees, the groups, organized by the Open the
Government Project and the Center for Democracy & Technology urged
lawmakers to fix a policy that makes it easy for deep-pocketed
lobbyists to obtain the reports but leaves most ordinary Americans
unable to take advantage of an important source of government
information. Full text of the letters is available from the
OpenTheGovernment.org home page .
"The time has long since come to end this baseless, unfair policy,"
CDT Deputy Director Ari Schwartz said. "In the Internet age, it is
unconscionable that these important, unclassified documents should
remain out of reach for the great majority of Americans."
American taxpayers spend over $100 million a year to fund the CRS,
which generates detailed reports relevant to current political events
for lawmakers. But while the reports are non-classified, and play a
critical role in our political process, they have never been made
available in a consistent way to members of the public. CRS already
maintains a fully searchable, password-protected Web site for members
of Congress. Increasing capacity and providing public access to that
site would constitute a trivial expense for the Library of Congress.
To fill the public void left by the CRS, several private companies
now sell copies of the reports at a price. This means that for
lobbyists, executives and others who can afford to pay, CRS reports
are readily available. Meanwhile, the vast majority of American
citizens continue to lack the information necessary to even request
reports.
"Such inequitable access to taxpayer-funded government information
should be anathema in an open society, but it is the predictable
outcome of an archaic policy that should never have survived this
long into the digital age," Open the Government Project Director
Patrice McDermott said.
The groups including American Association of Law Libraries, American
Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, American Library
Association, Association of Research Libraries, Bill of Rights
Defense Committee, Common Cause, Electronic Frontier Foundation,
EnviroJustice, Feminists for Free Expression, Free Government
Information, National Coalition Against Censorship, National Security
Archive, Northern California Association of Law Libraries, OMB Watch,
Pension Rights Center, Political Research Associates, ReadtheBill.org
Education Fund, Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press,
Southern California Association of Law Libraries. Special Libraries
Association, and the Sunlight Foundation urged lawmakers to hold
hearings on the issue and to actively support legislation to provide
the public with direct, no-fee access to all CRS reports.
About CDT: The Center for Democracy and Technology works to promote
democratic values and constitutional liberties in the digital age.
With expertise in law, technology, and policy, CDT seeks practical
solutions to enhance free expression and privacy in global
communications technologies. CDT is dedicated to building consensus
among all parties interested in the future of the Internet and other
new communications media. For more information, visit
http://www.cdt.org.
About Open the Government.org: OpenTheGovernment.org is a coalition
of journalists, consumer and good government groups,
environmentalists, library groups, labor and others united to make
the federal government a more open place in order to make us safer,
strengthen public trust in government, and support our democratic
principles. For more information, visit
http://www.openthegovernment.org/
