« Premier/Diebold Voting Machines Deleted Ballots | Jonathan Eyler-Werve's Blog | Argentinian Media Face Harassment, Threats and Financial Pressure »
Sen. Lieberman Calls for Release of CRS Library
Jonathan Eyler-Werve reporting for the Global Integrity Commons
This week, US Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT) calls for the release of Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports to the public.
These are taxpayer funded research studies used in Congressional debate. The reports are secret by Congressional tradition because, let's face it, facts disrupt spin. Our friends at the Project on Government Oversight have the story. Many have tried to publish these documents by law, but this may be the year it finally happens. We covered the recent leak and publication of the entire CRS library on the Commons last month.
The CRS reports currently top a list of "Most Wanted Federal Government Documents." You can vote for your favorites at the link, and frankly all of them should be public. Rounding out the top three:
This week, US Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT) calls for the release of Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports to the public.
These are taxpayer funded research studies used in Congressional debate. The reports are secret by Congressional tradition because, let's face it, facts disrupt spin. Our friends at the Project on Government Oversight have the story. Many have tried to publish these documents by law, but this may be the year it finally happens. We covered the recent leak and publication of the entire CRS library on the Commons last month.
The CRS reports currently top a list of "Most Wanted Federal Government Documents." You can vote for your favorites at the link, and frankly all of them should be public. Rounding out the top three:
- CRS Reports
- Bailout money recipiants
- Patriot Act usage by Department of Justice
Advertisement
Can't think of a reason in the world why all of that information isn't public. As a taxpayer I should have the right to inspect every detail of it.
March 6, 2009 7:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sen. Lieberman. I'm sorry. I don't remember who he was.
March 6, 2009 9:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
Here ya go:
http://blog.reidreport.com/uploaded_images/bush-lieberman-kiss-732259.jpg
March 6, 2009 9:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh, that fellow. I thought he was tarred, feathered, and kicked in the ass so hard he would never come out of hiding.
March 6, 2009 9:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
I do not understand why you choose to single out Lieberman here. He is only one of the many Congressional members who have attempted to provide public access to most CRS Reports. An abridged list of them includes:
The website: Open CRS, is still the best initial site when searching for publicly available CRS Reports.
SourceWatch has a good article which provides many other links.
March 6, 2009 9:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Without taking away from the original blog, your comment greatly increases my knowledge on this Pseudo. Good, good work.
March 6, 2009 9:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
Good point. Lieberman is, so far, the only one to raise thee issue this term, which is why he got name dropped. I'll cover any momentum behind an open-CRS bill, if it's from Harkin or McCain or whoever.
March 7, 2009 9:58 AM | Reply | Permalink
The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) has a large collection of CRS Reports published at their site. Steven Aftergood, a senior research analyst for FAS, has a blog called Secrecy News, in which he often posts updates about Public CRS Reports.
There are many other organisations who publish CRS Reports on their websites, but TPM limits links in comments to just two. Many of those sites are listed at the SourceWatch page I linked to previously.
March 7, 2009 2:09 PM | Reply | Permalink