Another Push for CRS Info Online, What You CAN Currently Find Online
Congressional Research Service
“Senators Want CRS Info Online”
Source: Federal Computer Week
From the article, “Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) today announced their plan to reintroduce legislation to make Congressional Research Service documents available to the public online.” It continues, The Project on Government Oversight (POGO) echoed the desire to make CRS products public in a report released this week. The report found that CRS blocks public access with an elaborate firewall, which redirects inquiries to the Library of Congress’ public Thomas site (thomas.loc.gov).” Those of you who read ResourceShelf on a regular basis know that SOME CRS material IS available on the web. By no means is this every CRS publication but a great collection is available on the U.S. House Web Site. The problem is that you cannot directly link to the pages and the reports are NOT indexed by the major search engines. These reports ARE accessible by heading to Representative Christoper Shays or Rep. Mark Green’s web site Both of these pages have a direct link to the House.Gov server.
Here are a few additional sites where you can access selected CRS content on the web. Understand that in some cases reports available from these sources have been updated since they were placed on these web sites.
1) Reports About Foreign Affairs and Related Issues (via the U.S. State Department Foreign Press Center)
2) Reports About Science and Environmental Issues (via National Library of the Enviroment)
3) Reports About Intelligence, Special Weapons, Military & National Security, and Civil Space (via FAS)
See Also: Full-Text of Legislation (via Congressional Record)
See Also: The Full-Text of the POGO Report
The report DOES NOT MENTION the CRS Access Points via Rep.Chris Shays or Rep. Mark Green’s Web Sites.