[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 10 (Wednesday, February 11, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S675]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               MAKING CRS REPORTS AVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC

 Mr. ABRAHAM. Mr. President, last week Senator McCain, the 
Chairman of the Commerce Committee, introduced legislation to make 
Congressional Research Service Reports, Issue Briefs and Authorization 
and Appropriations products available over the Internet to the public. 
I rise today to express my support for this timely legislation.
  The Congressional Research Service has a well-deserved reputation for 
producing objective, high-quality reports and issue briefs. I have 
relied on these reports in the past and have only the highest regard 
for the material produced by CRS. This information is not readily 
available to the general public, however. Congressional offices must 
officially request information on a constituent's behalf.
  Senator McCain's legislation, S. 1578, directs the Director of CRS to 
make reports, issue briefs and the more comprehensive CRS reports on 
federal authorizations and appropriations available on the Internet. 
Most of this information is already available on the CRS website but 
can only be accessed by Members of Congress and their staff. Obviously, 
since we use the Internet to make this information more accessible to 
Congress, we have the ability to make this information available to the 
general public. It is time we do so.
  Increasingly, the public is demonstrating that it is not satisfied 
with the way Congress does business. Amid the furor over campaign 
finance reform, accusations abound of Members ``selling'' their votes 
to private interest groups. I believe that greater access to the 
documents used by Members of Congress when making decisions will 
increase public understanding of this institution. Since constituents 
will be able to see the materials which influence the way a Member 
votes, a more accurate view of the Congressional decision-making 
process should emerge.
  Passage of this legislation will also permit the Congressional 
Research Service to serve an important role in informing the public. 
This nation's citizens will be able to read CRS products and receive a 
concise, accurate summary of the issues that concern them. The American 
taxpayer is paying for this information, almost $65 million for this 
year alone, and has a right to see it.
  The technological advances of the last decade are truly astonishing. 
Every effort should be made to apply this new technology as widely as 
possible. The advent of the Internet provides an important avenue for 
the exploration of new applications. This new medium has made possible 
the low-cost, rapid dissemination of information to an growing 
audience, and, whereas legislation to make CRS information available to 
the public was not plausible ten years ago, today we can do it at a 
very low cost.
  Mr. President, removing the barriers to public view of CRS documents 
is a great idea who's time has come. It will help Congress to better 
fulfill its duty to inform the public and allow constituents to see 
first hand the information that serves as the basis for many of the 
decisions made by its federally elected representatives.

                          ____________________