Friday, July 01, 2005


Found It!

Previously, I complained that reports from the Congressional Research Service aren't available to the public on the web. Via Kevin Drum, I have just learned about Open CRS, a private effort to collect CRS reports and put them in a single searchable archive on the web. So far they've collected 8,223 CRS reports.

As Drum explains:
CRS reports are commissioned by congressmen on a wide variety of topics, they're generally nonpartisan and reliable, and most of them run 5-10 pages, which makes them terrific introductions to complex issues.
Great news, but, like Drum, I still can't figure out why CRS refuses to post the reports itself. The Open CRS project depends on individuals obtaining reports from their Congressional representatives in pdf format and then submitting the reports to Open CRS for posting. Needless to say, this is a somewhat awkward procedure and will result in delays between the time the reports are issued and the time they are posted on the website.

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