Wed, 11 Mar 1998 21:05:02 -0800 (PST) Wed, 11 Mar 1998 21:04:20 -0800 (PST) Date: Wed, 11 Mar 1998 21:04:20 -0800 (PST) To: (Recipient list suppressed) From: Michael Eisenscher Subject: DW: Update: Bills to Put CRS reports on the Internet *** Democracies Online Newswire - http://www.e-democracy.org/do *** ------- Forwarded Message Follows ------- Date: Tue, 10 Mar 1998 14:55:02 -0500 (EST) Reply-to: gary@essential.org From: Gary Ruskin Subject: Update: Bills to Put CRS reports on the Internet Congressional Reform Briefings March 10, 1998 -- Please contact U.S. Senators on the Rules and Administration Committee to support bills placing Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports and products on the Internet. The bills are facing heavy lobbying opposition from CRS. Excellent bills have been introduced in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives to put Congressional Research Service reports and products on the Internet (S. 1578, H.R. 3131). The good news is that the bills have received a boost from enthusiastic newspaper editorials in the Houston Chronicle, Arizona Republic, Dallas Morning News, Indianapolis Star, and Hartford Courant. The bad news is that the Congressional Research Service is conducting an intensive lobbying effort to prevent its reports from being placed on the Internet. Most of the legislative action on the bills is focused in the Senate Rules and Administration Committee, which held two hearings touching upon whether CRS reports should be placed on the Internet. At those hearings, Chairman John Warner (R-VA) and Ranking Minority Member Wendell Ford (D-KY) expressed concerns about placing CRS reports on the Internet. At a March 4 Rules Committee hearing, Chairman Warner suggested that if citizens could read CRS reports on the Internet, they might ask Members of Congress for additional new CRS reports, which might, in turn, overburden CRS. In our view, it may be true that the CRS is understaffed. If so, their budget should be increased. But that is no reason to deny taxpayers access to CRS reports via the Internet. Taxpayers ought to be able to read the research that they pay for. Please call, write, phone, fax, or e-mail Chairman Warner and Senators on the Rules and Administration Committee. Tell them you want to read CRS reports and products on the Internet, and that you want them to support S. 1578. Senate Rules and Administration Committee: Republicans: John Warner, Chairman (VA) phone: 202-224-2023, fax: 202-224-6295, senator@warner.senate.gov Jesse Helms (NC) ph: 224-6342, fax: 228-1339, jesse_helms@helms.senate.gov Ted Stevens (AK) ph: 224-3004, fax: 224-2354, senator_stevens@stevens.senate.gov Mitch McConnell (KY) ph: 224-2541, fax: 224-2499, senator@mcconnell.senate.gov Thad Cochran (MS) ph: 224-5054, fax: 224-9450, senator@cochran.senate.gov Rick Santorum (PA) ph: 224-6324, fax: 228-0604, senator@santorum.senate.gov Don Nickles (OK) ph: 224-5754, fax: 224-6008, senator@nickles.senate.gov Trent Lott (MS) ph: 224-6253, fax: 224-2262, senatorlott@lott.senate.gov Kay Bailey Hutchison (TX) ph: 224-5922, fax: 224-0776, senator@hutchison.senate.gov Democrats: Wendell Ford, Ranking Member (KY) ph: 224-4343, fax: 224-0046, wendell_ford@ford.senate.gov Robert Byrd (WV) ph: 224-3954, fax: 228-0007, senator_byrd@byrd.senate.gov Daniel Inouye (HI) ph: 224-3934, fax: 224-6747, senator@inouye.senate.gov Daniel Patrick Moynihan (NY) ph: 224-4451, 228-0406, senator@dpm.senate.gov Christopher Dodd (CT) ph: 224-2823, fax: 224-1083, sen_dodd@dodd.senate.gov Dianne Feinstein (CA) ph: 224-3841, fax 228-3954, senator@feinstein.senate.gov Robert Torricelli (NJ) ph: 224-3224, fax: 224-8567, senator_torricelli@torricelli.senate.gov For e-mail addresses of Members of Congress, check The Internet Activist. The congressional switchboard phone number is 202-224-3121. What newspaper editorialists have written about the McCain-Coats and Shays-Price bills to put CRS reports and products on the Internet: "Under the twin theories that citizens ought to know as much as possible about their government and ought to get their money's worth out of that government, a bill has been introduced to make the Congressional Research Service available over the Internet. The bill deserves hearty support....By putting CRS on line, Congress will give citizens ready access to what they've already paid for. More important, citizens will have access to material that can help them understand more fully the complicated issues and legislation that emanate from Washington. And that will help them be better citizens and better voters. Put the CRS on line now." ("On Line: Make Congressional Research More Accessible on `Net" Houston Chronicle, 2/10/98.) "The CRS is a particularly good source for finding out how much money the federal government is spending on various programs. Roll Call, the Capitol Hill newspaper for Washington insiders, has described CRS reports as `often the most trenchant and useful monographs available.' Information is power. Washington lobbyists know how to tap into this information source, but the general public has no direct way to obtain these reports....[The bill is] a significant and long overdue step toward making the processes of Congress more transparent to the voting public. As it is, far too much of what Congress does is blocked from public access on the Internet." ("Opening Government," The Indianapolis Star, 2/18/98.) Putting CRS reports on the Internet is "a great idea that wouldn't cost much....Voters ought to have easy access to the research used in legislative debates. In a cyberspace age, access to timely information is the essence of good decision-making." ("Cyber Democracy: Research Should Be Available to the Public," The Dallas Morning News, 2/17/98.) "...a variety of congressional documents are still unavailable on the Library of Congress' THOMAS online computer search system, or any other free government online service. That is why Sen. John McCain's recently introduced legislation providing public access to Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports and products on the Internet - at no cost - is particularly appropriate. It serves as a defibrillator to jolt the Capitol information system back to life." ("More Access Online: Fulfilling a Pledge," The Arizona Republic, 2/10/98.) "Mr. Shays and his co-sponsors are to be commended for insisting that this useful CRS material be posted on the Internet. The information will help citizens to better understand issues before Congress. It can be done quickly and at little cost. Not everyone has access to the Internet, but it's a good bet that more people will see the research once it's launched in cyberspace than see it now. Congress mostly uses the Internet to distribute self-serving fluff. It should pass the legislation to put CRS reports on the Internet and follow that up with posting drafts of important bills, a nonpartisan database of voting records, transcripts of hearings, lobbyist disclosure reports, congressional office expenditure reports and the like." ("Put the Research on the Internet," The Hartford Courant, 2/20/98.) The Congressional Accountability Project is a congressional reform group affiliated with Ralph Nader. For more information about Internet access to Congressional documents or CRS reports, see . For more information about the failure of the Congress to place its documents on the Internet, see . For more information about the long list of excellent reports produced by the Congressional Research Service, look at the web page for Penny Hill Press, which sells CRS products. . To subscribe to Congressional Reform Briefings send the message: subscribe cong-reform your name to . PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY --------------------------------------------------------------- Gary Ruskin | gary@essential.org | Congressional Accountability Project | 1611 Connecticut Ave. NW Suite #3A | Washington, DC 20009 Phone: (202) 296-2787 | Fax (202) 833-2406 http://www.essential.org/orgs/CAP/CAP.html -------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------- Steven Clift - Public Strategies for the Online World 3454 Fremont Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55408 USA T: +1.612.822.8667(NEW) E: clift@publicus.net Democracies Online - http://www.e-democracy.org/do Universal E-mail - http://www.iaginteractive.com/emfa Consulting and Home Page - http://www.publicus.net ------------------------------------------------------- *** Please send submissions to: DO-WIRE@TC.UMN.EDU *** *** To subscribe, e-mail: listserv@tc.umn.edu *** *** Message body: subscribe DO-WIRE "Your Name (Place)" *** *** Second Line: subscribe DO-NOTES "Your Name (Place)" *** *** To unsubscribe instead, write: unsubscribe DO-WIRE *** *** Democracies Online - http://www.e-democracy.org/do ***