IV 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 34 

Directing the Clerk of the House of Representatives to provide members 

of the public with Internet access to certain Congressional Research 

Service publications, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 14, 2015 

Mr. LANCE (for himself, Mr. QUIGLEY, Mr. COOPER, and Mr. POLIS) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 

House Administration 

RESOLUTION 

Directing the Clerk of the House of Representatives to provide members of the public with Internet access to certain Congressional Research Service publications, and for 

other purposes. 

1 Resolved, 

2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; FINDINGS. 

3 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

4 ‘‘Public Access to Congressional Research Service Reports 

5 Resolution of 2015’’ or the ‘‘Congressional Research Serv6 ice Electronic Accessibility Resolution of 2015’’. 

7 (b) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 


asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
2 

•HRES 34 IH 

1 (1) The Congressional Research Service, a spe2 cial reference unit within the Library of Congress, 

3 offers invaluable research and analysis to Members 

4 of Congress on all current and emerging issues of 

5 national policy. 

6 (2) The Congressional Research Service staff of 

7 approximately 700 employees, including lawyers, 

8 economists, reference librarians, and social, natural, 

9 and physical scientists, are governed by require10 ments for accuracy, objectivity, balance, and non11 partisanship. 

12 (3) The Congressional Research Service has a 

13 responsibility to ensure that Members of Congress 

14 have available the best possible information and 

15 analysis on which to base the policy decisions the 

16 American people have elected them to make. 

17 (4) It is often burdensome, difficult, and time18 consuming for citizens to obtain access to objective 

19 and nonpartisan policy analysis on issues affecting 

20 their interests. 

21 (5) It will enhance our democracy to provide 

22 citizens with access to unbiased and accurate CRS 

23 documents on legislation and other critical issues be24 fore Congress. 


asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
3 

•HRES 34 IH 

1 (6) Allowing public access to CRS will empower 

2 citizens and enable Members of Congress to become 

3 even more effective ‘‘representatives’’ of the public’s 

4 concerns and goals. 

5 SEC. 2. AVAILABILITY OF CERTAIN CONGRESSIONAL RE6 SEARCH SERVICE INFORMATION. 

7 (a) ESTABLISHMENT AND MAINTENANCE OF DATA8 BASE OF INFORMATION.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Clerk of the House of 

10 Representatives, in consultation with the Director of 

11 the Congressional Research Service, shall establish 

12 and maintain a centralized, searchable, bulk 

13 downloadable, electronic database consisting of— 

14 (A) all of the information described in 

15 paragraph (2) that is available to Members, of16 ficers, employees, and offices of the House of 

17 Representatives through the Congressional Re18 search Service website; and 

19 (B) in accordance with subsection (b), an 

20 index of the information described in subpara21 graph (A). 

22 (2) INFORMATION DESCRIBED.—The informa23 tion described in this paragraph is as follows: 

24 (A) Congressional Research Service Issue 

25 Briefs. 


asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
4 

•HRES 34 IH 

1 (B) Congressional Research Service Re2 ports. 

3 (C) Congressional Research Service Au4 thorization of Appropriations Products and Ap5 propriations Products. 

6 (D) Materials intended or available for 

7 general congressional distribution that are the 

8 same or substantially similar in content to CRS 

9 Reports, Issue Briefs, and Appropriations Prod10 ucts. 

11 (3) SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR MATERIALS IN12 CLUDED.—With respect to each issue brief, product, 

13 or report included in the database under this sub14 section, the Clerk shall include— 

15 (A) the name and identification number; 

16 (B) the dates of initial release and updates 

17 (if any); and 

18 (C) the Congressional Research Service di19 vision or divisions that were responsible for its 

20 production. 

21 (4) UPDATES.—The Clerk, in consultation with 

22 the Director, shall ensure that the information in 

23 the database under this subsection is updated auto24 matically and electronically to reflect the availability 


asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
5 

•HRES 34 IH 

1 of new information and updates to existing informa2 tion described in paragraph (2). 

3 (5) INITIAL INFORMATION.—The initial estab4 lishment of the database under this subsection shall 

5 include all of the contents described in paragraph 

6 (1) as of the date on which this resolution is agreed 

7 to. 

8 (b) INDEX OF DATABASE INFORMATION.—In addi9 tion to the database under subsection (a), the Clerk, in 

10 consultation with the Director, shall establish and main11 tain contemporaneously a website containing a searchable, 

12 sortable index of all of the information in the database 

13 in both human-readable and machine-readable formats 

14 (such as XML) that includes for each issue brief, product, 

15 or report in the database— 

16 (1) the name and identification number; 

17 (2) the dates of initial release and updates (if 

18 any); and 

19 (3) the Congressional Research Service division 

20 or divisions that were responsible for its production. 

21 (c) LIMITATIONS.— 

22 (1) CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION.—Subsections 

23 (a) and (b) do not apply to— 

24 (A) any information that is confidential, as 

25 determined by— 


asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
6 

•HRES 34 IH 

1 (i) the Director; or 

2 (ii) the head of a Federal department 

3 or agency that provided the information to 

4 the Congressional Research Service; or 

5 (B) any document that— 

6 (i) is the product of a confidential re7 search request made by a Member, officer, 

8 employee, or office of the House of Rep9 resentatives; 

10 (ii) has not been distributed to any in11 dividual or office other than the individual 

12 or office making the request; and 

13 (iii) is not intended for distribution to 

14 any person other than the individual or of15 fice making the request. 

16 (2) REDACTION AND REVISION.—In carrying 

17 out this section, the Clerk, on the basis of informa18 tion provided by the Director, may— 

19 (A) remove from the information included 

20 in the database (including from the issue brief, 

21 product, or report itself) the name and contact 

22 information regarding an employee of the Con23 gressional Research Service; 

24 (B) remove from the information included 

25 in the database (including from the issue brief, 


asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
7 

•HRES 34 IH 

1 product, or report itself) any material for which 

2 the Director determines that including the in3 formation on the database may infringe the 

4 copyright of a work protected under title 17, 

5 United States Code; and 

6 (C) make any changes in the information 

7 included in the database (including from the 

8 issue brief, product, or report itself) that the 

9 Director determines necessary to ensure that 

10 the information is accurate and current, except 

11 that if the Clerk makes any such change with 

12 respect to any material in the database, the 

13 Clerk shall indicate in the database (with such 

14 notation as the Clerk considers appropriate) 

15 that more current information is available with 

16 respect to the material than the information 

17 provided in the database. 

18 (3) METHOD OF REDACTION.—The Clerk shall 

19 carry out any redaction under paragraph (2)(C) in 

20 a manner which removes the least amount of mate21 rial necessary to carry out the purposes of the redac22 tion. 

23 (4) ASSISTANCE FROM DIRECTOR FOR AUTO24 MATIC REDACTION.—The Clerk shall consult with 

25 the Director to ensure the availability and implemenVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:20 Jan 14, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR34.IH HR34

asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
8 

•HRES 34 IH 

1 tation of such technology as may be necessary to fa2 cilitate the automatic redaction of information under 

3 this subsection. 

4 (d) FURNISHING OF NECESSARY INFORMATION.— 

5 The Clerk shall consult with the Director to ensure that 

6 the Clerk is provided with all of the information necessary 

7 to carry out this section in such format as the Clerk con8 siders appropriate. 

9 SEC. 3. OTHER METHODS OF PUBLIC ACCESS. 

10 (a) ACCESS THROUGH WEBSITES OF MEMBERS AND

11 COMMITTEES.—Each official public website of a Member 

12 of the House of Representatives, a committee of the House 

13 of Representatives, or a joint committee of the Congress 

14 shall permit members of the public to use the website to 

15 obtain the information contained in the database estab16 lished under section 2, in the same manner and to the 

17 same extent as Members, officers, employees, and offices 

18 of the House of Representatives may obtain such informa19 tion through the Congressional Research Service website. 

20 (b) REGULATIONS.—Subsection (a) shall be carried 

21 out in accordance with regulations promulgated by the 

22 Committee on House Administration of the House of Rep23 resentatives. 

24 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

25 In this Act— 


asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
9 

•HRES 34 IH 

1 (1) the term ‘‘Clerk’’ means the Clerk of the 

2 House of Representatives; 

3 (2) the term ‘‘Director’’ means the Director of 

4 the Congressional Research Service; and 

5 (3) the term ‘‘Member of the House of Rep6 resentatives’’ includes a Delegate or Resident Com7 missioner to the Congress. 

8 SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

9 This resolution shall take effect upon the expiration 

10 of the 6-month period which begins on the date on which 

11 the resolution is agreed to, without regard to whether the 

12 regulations described in section 3(b) or any other regula13 tions have been promulgated prior to the expiration of 

14 such period. 

Æ 


asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with BILLS