[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 23 (Tuesday, February 9, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1391-S1393]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. McCAIN (for himself, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Lott, Mr. Abraham, Mr. 
        Robb, and Mr. Enzi):
  S. 393. A bill to provide Internet access to certain Congressional 
documents, including certain Congressional Research Service 
publications, Senate lobbying and gift report filings, and Senate and 
Joint Committee documents; to the Committee on Rules and 
Administration.


                       CONGRESSIONAL OPENESS ACT

 Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I would like to introduce the 
Congressional Openess Act, a bill to make selected Congressional 
Research Service products, lobbyist disclosure reports and Senate gift 
disclosure forms available over the Internet for the American people. 
This bipartisan legislation is sponsored by Senators Leahy, Lott, 
Abraham, Robb, and Enzi.
  The Congressional Research Service (CRS) has a well-known reputation 
for producing high-quality reports and issue briefs that are concise, 
factual, and unbiased--a rarity for Washington. Many of us have used 
these CRS products to make decisions on a wide variety of legislative 
proposals and issues, including Amtrak reform, the Endangered Species 
Act, the Line-Item veto, and U.S. policy in Zambia. Also, we routinely 
send these products to our constituents in order to help them 
understand the important issues of our time.
  My colleagues and I believe that it is important that the public be 
able to use this CRS information. The American public will pay $67.1 
million to fund CRS' operations for fiscal year 1999. They should be 
allowed to see that their money is being well-spent on material that is 
neither confidential nor classified.

[[Page S1392]]

  Congress can also serve two important functions by allowing public 
access to this information. When we give the public access to these CRS 
products, it will mark an important milestone in opening up the federal 
government. Our constituents will be able to see the research documents 
which influence our decisions and understand the factors that we 
consider before a vote. This will give the public a more accurate view 
of the Congressional decision-making process to counter the current 
prevailing cynical view.
  Also, CRS reports will serve an important role in informing the 
public. Members of the public will be able to read these CRS products 
and receive a concise, accurate summary of the issues that concern 
them. As elected representatives, we should do what we can to promote 
an informed, educated public. The educated voter is best able to make 
decisions and petition us to do the right things here.
  It is important to realize that these products are already out on the 
Internet. ``Black market'' private vendors can charge $49 for a single 
report. Other web sites have outdated CRS products on them. It is not 
fair for the American people to have to pay a third party for out-of-
date products for which they have already footed the bill.
  Last year my colleagues on the Senate Committee on Rules and 
Administration proposed that Senators and Committee chairmen be allowed 
to post CRS products as they see fit on the Internet. I appreciate this 
gesture, and believe that it was a first step. Today we are proposing 
the commonsense next step--a centralized web site.
  A centralized web site will make it much easier for the public to 
find CRS information. The public can just go to a web site and look up 
those products that interest them. That would be much easier than 
having them go through all of our web sites to find CRS reports.
  One concern about the legislation we introduced last year was that it 
would not protect CRS from more public scrutiny. We would like to 
ensure you that we do not want to put CRS in a position that would in 
any way alter its current mission or open it up to liability suits.
  Therefore, the bill provides that this centralized web site will be 
accessible only through Members' and Committees' web sites. This 
process will preserve CRS' mission by reducing its public visibility. 
More importantly, it will continue to allow us to inform our 
constituents about how we are helping them here in Washington.
  This bill also includes other safeguards to ensure that CRS will 
remain protected from public interference. The Director of CRS is 
empowered to remove any information from these reports that he believes 
is confidential. He also can remove the names and phone numbers of CRS 
employees from these products to keep the public from distracting them 
from doing their jobs. We have also been informed that CRS may not have 
permission to release copyrighted information over the Internet. While 
we hope that this situation can be quickly resolved, we have included a 
provision in this bill to allow the Director to remove unprotected 
copyrighted information from these reports before they are posted. 
Finally, we have allowed a 30-day delay between the release of these 
CRS products to Members of Congress and the public. This delay allows 
CRS to review their products, consult with us, and revise their 
products to ensure that only accurate, up-to-date information is 
available to the public.
  It should be pointed out that CRS has been granted none of these 
protections as part of the current decentralized approach.
  This bill also requires the Senate Office of Public Records to place 
lobbyist disclosure forms and Senate gift disclosure forms on the 
Internet. We have already voted to make this information available to 
the public. Unfortunately, the public can only get access to this 
information through an office in the Hart building. These provisions 
will give our constituents throughout the country timely access to this 
information.
  This legislation has been endorsed by many groups including the 
American Association of Engineering Societies, the Congressional 
Accountability Project, the League of Women Voters of the U.S., and the 
National Association of Manufacturers.
  In conclusion, we would like to urge my colleagues to join us in 
supporting this legislation. The Internet offers us a unique 
opportunity to allow the American people to have everyday access to 
important information about their government. We are sure you agree 
that a well-informed electorate can best govern our great country.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that there letters of support 
be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the materials were ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                                           American Association of


                                        Engineering Societies,

                                 Washington, DC, February 4, 1999.
     Hon. John McCain,
     U.S. Senate, Washington, DC.
       Dear Senator McCain: On behalf of the Engineers Public 
     Policy Council (EPPC) of the American Association of 
     Engineering Societies, I want to thank you for your 
     leadership on providing public access to Congressional 
     Research Service (CRS) materials. EPPC believes that all 
     citizens of the United States will benefit from being able 
     read these materials and will enable them to better engage in 
     the policy debates of our times.
       The EPPC has had the opportunity to review a number of CRS 
     reports that were provided via our member's congressional 
     offices. We believe that they are of the highest quality and 
     deserve to be made widely available.
       The members of EPPC and AAES will continue to advocate that 
     their own Senators and Representatives support this important 
     legislation.
       Again, thank you for your leadership. If we can ever be of 
     assistance please feel free to contact me or Pete Leon, 
     Director of Public Policy, at (202) 296-2237 x 214.
           Sincerely,
                                            Dr. Theodore T. Saito,
     1999 EPPC Chair.
                                  ____

                                      Congressional Accountability


                                                      Project,

                                 Washington, DC, February 9, 1999.
     Hon. John McCain,
     U.S. Senate,
     Washington, DC.

     Hon. Patrick Leahy,
     U.S. Senate,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Senators McCain and Leahy: We strongly endorse the 
     Congressional Openness Act to place important congressional 
     documents on the Internet, including Congressional Research 
     Service (CRS) Reports and Issue Briefs, CRS Authorization and 
     Appropriations products, lobbyist disclosure reports, and 
     Senate gift disclosure reports.
       The Congressional Openness Act recognizes that ``it is so 
     often burdensome, difficult and time-consuming for citizens 
     to obtain timely access to public records of the United 
     States Congress,'' and would help provide taxpayers with easy 
     access to the congressional research and documents that we 
     pay for.
       CRS products are some of the finest research prepared by 
     the federal government, on a vast range of topics. But 
     citizens cannot obtain most CRS products directly. At 
     present, many CRS products are available on an internal 
     congressional intranet only for use by Members of Congress 
     and their staffs--not the public. Barriers to obtaining CRS 
     products serve no useful purpose, and damage citizens' 
     ability to participate in the congressional legislative 
     process. Citizens, scholars, journalists, librarians, 
     businesses, and many others have long wanted access to CRS 
     reports via the Internet.
       In 1995, Congress passed the Lobbying Disclosure Act to 
     require Washington lobbyists to disclose key information 
     about their activities. Placing lobbyist disclosure reports 
     on the Internet would help citizens to track patterns of 
     influence in Congress, and to discover who is paying whom how 
     much to lobby on what issues.
       The Congressional Openness Act contains a sense of the 
     Senate resolution that Senate and Joint Committees ``should 
     provide access via the Internet to publicly-available 
     committee information, documents, and proceedings, including 
     bills, reports, and transcripts of committee meetings that 
     are open to the public.'' Congress owns this to the American 
     people.
       In 1822, James Madison aptly described why the public must 
     have reliable information about Congress: ``A popular 
     Government, without popular information, or the means of 
     acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or, 
     perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance: And a 
     people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm 
     themselves with the power which knowledge gives.''
       Your bill falls squarely within the spirit of Madison's 
     honorable words. Thank you for your efforts in making 
     congressional documents available on the Internet.
           Sincerely,
         American Association of Law Libraries, American 
           Conservative Union, American Society of Newspaper 
           Editors, Common Cause, Computer & Communications 
           Industry Association, Computer Professionals for Social 
           Responsibility, Consumer Project on Technology, 
           Congressional Accountability Project, Electronic 
           Frontier Foundation, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting 
           (FAIR), Forest Service Employees

[[Page S1393]]

           for Environmental Ethics, League of Women Voters of the 
           U.S., National Association of Manufacturers, National 
           Citizens Communications Lobby, National Newspaper 
           Association, National Taxpayers Union, NetAction, OMB 
           Watch, Project on Government Oversight, Public Citizen, 
           Radio-Television News Directors Association, Reform 
           Party of the United States, Taxpayers for Common Sense, 
           U.S. Public Interest Research Group (USPIRG).
 Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I am pleased to join today with 
Senator McCain to introduce the Congressional Openness Act of 1999. I 
want to thank Senators Abraham, Enzi, Lott and Robb for joining us as 
original cosponsors.
  Our bipartisan legislation makes certain Congressional Research 
Service products, lobbyist disclosure reports and Senate gift 
disclosure forms available over the Internet to the American people.
  The Congressional Research Service (CRS) has a well-known reputation 
for producing high-quality reports and information briefs that are 
unbiased, concise, and accurate. The taxpayers of this country, who pay 
$65 million a year to fund the CRS, deserve speedy access to these 
public resources and have a right to see that their money is being 
spent well.
  The goal of our legislation to allow every citizen the same access to 
the wealth of information at the Congressional Research Service (CRS) 
as a Member of Congress enjoys today. CRS performs invaluable research 
and produces first-rate reports on hundreds of topics. American 
taxpayers have every right to direct access to these wonderful 
resources.
  Online CRS reports will serve an important role in informing the 
public. Members of the public will be able to read these CRS products 
and receive a concise, accurate summary of the issues before the 
Congress. As elected representatives, we should do what we can to 
promote an informed, educated public. The educated voter is best able 
to make decisions and petition us to do the right things here in 
Congress.
  Our legislation also ensures that private CRS products will remain 
protected by giving the CRS Director the authority to hold back any 
products that are deemed confidential. Moreover, the Director may 
protect the identity of CRS researchers and any copyrighted material. 
We can do both--protect confidential material and empower our citizens 
through electronic access to invaluable CRS products.
  In addition, the Congressional Openness Act would provide public 
online access to lobbyist reports and gift disclosure forms. At 
present, these public records are available in the Senate Office of 
Public Records in Room 232 of the Hart Building. As a practical matter, 
these public records are accessible only to those inside the Beltway.
  The Internet offers us a unique opportunity to allow the American 
people to have everyday access to this public information. Our 
bipartisan legislation would harness the power of the Information Age 
to allow average citizens to see these public records of the Senate in 
their official form, in context and without editorial comment. All 
Americans would have timely access to the information that we already 
have voted to give them.
  And all of these reports are indeed ``public'' for those who can 
afford to hire a lawyer or lobbyist or who can afford to travel to 
Washington to come to the Office of Public Records in the Hart Building 
and read them. That is not very public. That does not do very much for 
the average voter in Vermont or the rest of this country outside of 
easy reach of Washington. That does not meet the spirit in which we 
voted to make these materials public, when we voted ``disclosure'' 
laws.
  We can do better, and this bill does better. Any citizen in any 
corner of this country with access to a computer at home or the office 
or at the public library will be able to get on the Internet and for 
the first time read these public documents and learn the information 
which we have said must be disclosed.
  It also is important that citizens will be able to get the 
information in its original, official form. At present, the information 
may be selected by an interested party who can afford to send a lawyer 
or lobbyist to the Hart Building to cull through the information. 
Selected information then may--or may not--be given to the press and 
public with commentary. Our bipartisan legislation allows citizens to 
get accurate information themselves, the full information in context 
and without editorial comment. It allows individual citizens to check 
the facts, to make comparisons, and to make up their own minds.
  I want to commend the Senior Senator from Arizona for his leadership 
on opening public access to Congressional documents. I share his desire 
for the American people to have electronic access to many more 
Congressional resources. I look forward to working with him in the days 
to come on harnessing the power of the information age to open up the 
halls of Congress to all our citizens.
  This is not a partisan issue; it is a good government issue. That is 
why the Congressional Openness Act is endorsed by such a diverse group 
of organizations as the Congressional Accountability Project, American 
Association of Law Libraries, American Conservation Union, American 
Society of Newspaper Editors, Common Cause, Computer & Communications 
Industry Association, Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, 
Consumer Project on Technology, Electronic Frontier Foundation, 
Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, Forest Service Employees for 
Environmental Ethics, League of Women Voters of the U.S., National 
Association of Manufacturers, National Citizens Communications Lobby, 
National Newspaper Association, National Taxpayers Union, NetAction, 
OMB Watch, Project of Government Oversight, Public Citizen, Radio-
Television News Directors Association, Reform Party of the United 
States, Taxpayers for Common Sense and U.S. Public Interest Research 
Group. I want to thank each of these organizations for their support.
  As Thomas Jefferson wrote, ``Information is the currency of 
democracy.'' Our democracy is stronger if all citizens have equal 
access to at least that type of currency, and that is something which 
Members on both sides of the aisle can celebrate and join in.
  The Congressional Openness Act is an important step in informing and 
empowering American citizens. I urge my colleagues to join us in 
supporting this legislation to make available useful Congressional 
information to the American people.
                                 ______