Lance pushes Congress to give public access to research reports

Americans for Tax Reform on Wednesday backed U.S. Rep. Leonard Lance’s (R-NJ) measure to open to the public taxpayer-funded reports compiled by the Congressional Research Service (CRS).

The Lance-authored H.Res. 34 would open CRS following more than a century of being closed to public access. Attempts have been made in the past to require all CRS reports to be made available to the public but, to date, the only way for the public to access data from CRS is to request individual reports from their senators and representatives in Congress, purchase them from private vendors or search for them in web archives.

“Taxpayers pay for these reports but cannot read them,” Lance said. “It is past time that taxpayers get to use what they are paying for. At least $100 million dollars every year goes to funding valuable public information that countless people would find useful for school work, research or general information but they are shut out from having access to it. I am pleased the Americans for Tax Reform organization is joining this fight for taxpayers.”

The measure is currently before the Committee on House Administration following work by Lance and Rep. Michael Quigley (D-IL) to bring attention to the issue after years of inaction by both Congress and CRS.

The bill would create an electronic database for CRS reports that would be publicly accessible, similar to a platform that is currently available to Congress.

“This is a common sense proposal that will increase transparency, give taxpayers greater access to important information, and enrich public knowledge,” Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, said in a letter to members of Congress. “I urge you to work to lift this outdated, unnecessary rule and allow CRS reports into the public domain.”

CRS has a staff of approximately 600 employees, including economists, lawyers, reference librarians, and social, natural and physical scientists. Its fiscal year 2012 budget was approximately $106.8 million.