Congressional Research Service
From SourceWatch
The Congressional Research Service is the public policy research arm of the United States Congress. As a legislative branch agency within the Library of Congress, CRS works exclusively and directly for Members of Congress, their Committees and staff on a confidential, nonpartisan basis. [1] (http://www.loc.gov/crsinfo/whatscrs.html)
Congressional Research Service Reports products undergo review for accuracy and objectivity and contain nontechnical information that can be very useful to people interested in policy. CRS does not itself provide these documents to the general public. Although CRS documents are prepared specifically for Congress and not widely distributed, their distribution is not protected by law or copyright.
July, 2005 - Congressmen Green and Shays were providing a browser based means to access the Congressional Research Service's products via cgi routines enabled through their official government websites, but the service has presently been discontinued for reasons that the CRS believes is lawfully sound, over the objections of both Congressmen. Both Congressmen can release any report that the choose, but all copying and transcriptions must be done outside of the CRS offices. Congressman Green sent a letter to the Dircetor of the Congression Research Service, expressing his disapproval for the lack of public accessibility on December 9, 2003 (http://www.house.gov/markgreen/CRSLetter.htmDaniel), Congressman Shays cosponsored a bill with Inslee, Price and Green calling for the public release of CRS reports in Nov. 2003 (http://www.house.gov/shays/news/2003/november/novcrs.htm). It has never been enacted.
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- Brian Faler, "Hard-to-Get Policy Briefings For Congress Are Now Online. Technology Group Opens Access to Research Reports," (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/27/AR2005062701509.html) Washington Post, June 28, 2005.
In 1999, the CRS completed a study regarding the pros and cons of wide distribution of their reports to the public. They viewed open dispersal of CRS Reports more negatively than positively. Among other claims, it stated an elitist position that if Reports were widely distributed to the general American Citizenry, the noise from their feedback would impair the CRS's ability to produce timely and relevant reports for Congress. see: CongressionaL Policy Concerning the Distribution of CRS Written Products to the Public (http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/policy.html), Congressional Research Service, March 9, 1999 - (FAS mirror).
External Links
References about the CRS
- Stephen Young, CRS Reports (http://www.llrx.com/features/crsreports.htm), "llrx dot com" (a law zine), Published July 15, 2002 and updated July 26, 2004. This is a very informative article about the CRS, including a bit of history.
online sources of CRS Reports
Note: generally, online CRS reports are in Adobe's PDF file format
Center for Democracy and Technology-Open CRS Network (http://www.opencrs.com/)
- RSS Feeds
- Recent Reports (http://opencrs.cdt.org/syndication/recent.xml)
- Recently added (http://opencrs.cdt.org/syndication/recentlyadded.xml)
- Search OpenCRS Database for CRS Reports (http://www.opencrs.com/search.php)
- Open CRS - Listing of CRS Reports from other collections
- National Council for Science and the Environment (http://www.opencrs.com/collection/ncse)
- Federation of American Scientists (http://www.opencrs.com/collection/fas)
- Thurgood Marshall Law Library/University of Maryland School of Law (http://www.opencrs.com/collection/tmll)
- National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism (http://www.opencrs.com/collection/mipt)
- Center for Democracy & Technology (http://www.opencrs.com/collection/cdt)
Federation of American Scientists (http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/index.html)
- Secrecy and Information Policy (http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/secrecy/index.html)
- Intelligence (http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/intel/index.html)
- Homeland Security (http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/homesec/index.html)
- Nuclear Weapons and Arms Control (http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/nuke/index.html)
- Conventional Weapons Systems (http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/weapons/index.html)
- Terrorism (http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/terror/index.html)
- General National Security Topics (http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/index.html)
- Middle East (http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/index.html)
- Foreign Policy and Regional Affairs (http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/index.html)
- Space Policy (http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/space/index.html)
- Miscellaneous Topics (http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/index.html)
The Franklin Pierce Law Center Intellectual Property Mall: CRS Reports (http://www.ipmall.info/hosted_resources/crs_reports.asp)
- 2005 (http://www.ipmall.info/hosted_resources/CRS_Index_2005.asp)
- 2004 (http://www.ipmall.info/hosted_resources/CRS_Index_2004.asp)
- 2003 (http://www.ipmall.info/hosted_resources/CRS_Index_2003.asp)
- 2002 (http://www.ipmall.info/hosted_resources/CRS_Index_2002.asp)
- 2001 (http://www.ipmall.info/hosted_resources/CRS_Index_2001.asp)
- 2000 (http://www.ipmall.info/hosted_resources/CRS_Index_2000.asp)
- 1999 (http://www.ipmall.info/hosted_resources/CRS_Index_1999.asp)
- 1998 (http://www.ipmall.info/hosted_resources/CRS_Index_1998.asp)
- 1997 (http://www.ipmall.info/hosted_resources/CRS_Index_1997.asp)
- 1996 (http://www.ipmall.info/hosted_resources/CRS_Index_1996.asp)
- 1995 (http://www.ipmall.info/hosted_resources/CRS_Index_1995.asp)
- 1994 (http://www.ipmall.info/hosted_resources/CRS_Index_1994.asp)
- 1993 (http://www.ipmall.info/hosted_resources/CRS_Index_1993.asp)
US State Department - Foreign Press Center (http://fpc.state.gov/)
- Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports and Issue Briefs (http://fpc.state.gov//c4763.htm)
- Recent CRS Reports (http://fpc.state.gov//c6694.htm)
- 2005 Reports (http://fpc.state.gov//c13800.htm)
- 2004 Reports (http://fpc.state.gov//c11322.htm)
- 2003 Reports (http://fpc.state.gov//c8003.htm)
- 2002 Reports (http://fpc.state.gov//c5115.htm)
- 2001 Reports (http://fpc.state.gov//c4954.htm)
- 2000 Reports (http://fpc.state.gov//c4968.htm)
- 1999 Reports (http://fpc.state.gov//c4952.htm)
Law Librarians' Society of Washington, D.C.
- Selected CRS Reports - Topic: Congress and its Procedures (http://www.llsdc.org/sourcebook/CRS-Congress.htm)
- Links to Web repositories of CRS reports (http://www.llsdc.org/sourcebook/CRS-Congress.htm#CRS)
Misc.
- National Council for Science and the Environment (http://www.ncseonline.org/NLE/CRS/)
- National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism (http://www.mipt.org/)
- University of North Texas Libraries (http://digital.library.unt.edu/govdocs/crs/index.tkl)
- Thurgood Marshall Law Library/University of Maryland School of Law (http://www.law.umaryland.edu/marshall/crsreports/)
- US Embassy in Italy (http://italy.usembassy.gov/policy/crs/default.asp)
- University of Oregon Library collection (http://janus.uoregon.edu/search/t?SEARCH=crs%2Breport%2Bfor%2Bcongress)
- Libraries of the University of California collection (http://countingcalifornia.cdlib.org/crs/)
CRS Reports Search tool
- Z-facts CRS Report Specific Web Search Page (http://zfacts.com/p/576.html)
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