Blog
ASNE requests hearings on documents release
- By: ASNE staff
- On: 05/26/2009 00:00:00
- In: FOI
ASNE joined over 40 other organizations and advocates requesting the Senate Committee on Rules to hold hearings on the release of certain documents produced by the Congressional Research Service. CRS is a nonpartisan, taxpayer-funded office that produces nonclassified information at the request of members of Congress.
ASNE joined over 40 other organizations and advocates requesting the Senate Committee on Rules to hold hearings on the release of certain documents produced by the Congressional Research Service.
CRS is a nonpartisan, taxpayer-funded office that produces nonclassified information at the request of members of Congress. While a member of Congress can himself or herself release a CRS report, such disclosures are not mandatory and, even when released, are often given only to those with particularly strong access to congressional offices. The public, in many instances, does not see these very valuable and influential parts of the legislatives process.
In addition to the request for public hearings, the groups are advocating the passage of S.R. 118. This nonbinding resolution would direct the Senate sergeant-at-arms to make CRS issue briefs, reports, and Authorization of Appropriations Products and Appropriations Products available through a centralized electronic distribution system, subject to a withholding and redaction of information in certain instances. S.R. 118 is currently before the Rules Committee.
This is not the first time that ASNE has called for the release of CRS reports. Though the issue has not arisen for several years, ASNE and other groups supported several similar resolutions that were introduced in the Senate by Senator John McCain in the early part of this decade.
By Kevin Goldberg, ASNE legal counsel, goldberg@fhhlaw.com