House Panel Votes To Keep Congressional Reports Private
In a blow to congressional transparency, the House Appropriations Committee voted against publicly releasing highly informative, taxpayer-funded reports that members use to educate themselves on the issues before Congress…….
But the chairman of the Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee, Rep. Tom Graves (R-Ga.), argued that members needed to be “really, really careful with this.” He noted that CRS was an arm of Congress, and he didn’t want members to be afraid to ask CRS to prepare reports on controversial issues for fear that their requests would become public.
Never mind that the amendment explicitly states this legislation would not apply to reports prepared for individual members of Congress at their request, only to reports that CRS prepares for all members.
Rigell responded to Graves’ criticism by noting that he had spoken to administrators at the Library of Congress who said reports prepared for all members were already being made available to lobbyists and special interest groups, who find out about them as soon as they’re released to members.
But the ranking Democrat on the Legislative Branch Subcommittee, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), said that wasn’t the case. She also said making the reports widely available would slow down the information getting to members.
“I have serious concerns about changing the role that the Congressional Research Service plays,” Wasserman Schulz said, arguing that it would not help members to have CRS go through a “long and arduous approval process.”
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