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) sub-
mitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 
House Administration 
RESOLUTION 
Directing the Clerk of the House of Representatives to pro-
vide members of the public with Internet access to cer-
tain Congressional Research Service publications, and for 
other purposes. 
Resolved, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; FINDINGS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Public Access to Congressional Research Service Reports 
Resolution of 2015’’ or the ‘‘Congressional Research Serv-
ice Electronic Accessibility Resolution of 2015’’. 
(b) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
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(1) The Congressional Research Service, a spe-
cial reference unit within the Library of Congress, 
offers invaluable research and analysis to Members 
of Congress on all current and emerging issues of 
national policy. 
(2) The Congressional Research Service staff of 
approximately 700 employees, including lawyers, 
economists, reference librarians, and social, natural, 
and physical scientists, are governed by require-
ments for accuracy, objectivity, balance, and non-
partisanship. 
(3) The Congressional Research Service has a 
responsibility to ensure that Members of Congress 
have available the best possible information and 
analysis on which to base the policy decisions the 
American people have elected them to make. 
(4) It is often burdensome, difficult, and time- 
consuming for citizens to obtain access to objective 
and nonpartisan policy analysis on issues affecting 
their interests. 
(5) It will enhance our democracy to provide 
citizens with access to unbiased and accurate CRS 
documents on legislation and other critical issues be-
fore Congress. 
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(6) Allowing public access to CRS will empower 
citizens and enable Members of Congress to become 
even more effective ‘‘representatives’’ of the public’s 
concerns and goals. 
SEC. 2. AVAILABILITY OF CERTAIN CONGRESSIONAL RE-
SEARCH SERVICE INFORMATION. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT AND MAINTENANCE OF DATA-
BASE OF INFORMATION.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Clerk of the House of 
Representatives, in consultation with the Director of 
the Congressional Research Service, shall establish 
and 
maintain 
a 
centralized, 
searchable, 
bulk 
downloadable, electronic database consisting of— 
(A) all of the information described in 
paragraph (2) that is available to Members, of-
ficers, employees, and offices of the House of 
Representatives through the Congressional Re-
search Service website; and 
(B) in accordance with subsection (b), an 
index of the information described in subpara-
graph (A). 
(2) INFORMATION
DESCRIBED.—The informa-
tion described in this paragraph is as follows: 
(A) Congressional Research Service Issue 
Briefs. 
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(B) Congressional Research Service Re-
ports. 
(C) Congressional Research Service Au-
thorization of Appropriations Products and Ap-
propriations Products. 
(D) Materials intended or available for 
general congressional distribution that are the 
same or substantially similar in content to CRS 
Reports, Issue Briefs, and Appropriations Prod-
ucts. 
(3) SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR MATERIALS IN-
CLUDED.—With respect to each issue brief, product, 
or report included in the database under this sub-
section, the Clerk shall include— 
(A) the name and identification number; 
(B) the dates of initial release and updates 
(if any); and 
(C) the Congressional Research Service di-
vision or divisions that were responsible for its 
production. 
(4) UPDATES.—The Clerk, in consultation with 
the Director, shall ensure that the information in 
the database under this subsection is updated auto-
matically and electronically to reflect the availability 
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of new information and updates to existing informa-
tion described in paragraph (2). 
(5) INITIAL INFORMATION.—The initial estab-
lishment of the database under this subsection shall 
include all of the contents described in paragraph 
(1) as of the date on which this resolution is agreed 
to. 
(b) INDEX OF DATABASE INFORMATION.—In addi-
tion to the database under subsection (a), the Clerk, in 
consultation with the Director, shall establish and main-
tain contemporaneously a website containing a searchable, 
sortable index of all of the information in the database 
in both human-readable and machine-readable formats 
(such as XML) that includes for each issue brief, product, 
or report in the database— 
(1) the name and identification number; 
(2) the dates of initial release and updates (if 
any); and 
(3) the Congressional Research Service division 
or divisions that were responsible for its production. 
(c) LIMITATIONS.— 
(1) CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION.—Subsections 
(a) and (b) do not apply to— 
(A) any information that is confidential, as 
determined by— 
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(i) the Director; or 
(ii) the head of a Federal department 
or agency that provided the information to 
the Congressional Research Service; or 
(B) any document that— 
(i) is the product of a confidential re-
search request made by a Member, officer, 
employee, or office of the House of Rep-
resentatives; 
(ii) has not been distributed to any in-
dividual or office other than the individual 
or office making the request; and 
(iii) is not intended for distribution to 
any person other than the individual or of-
fice making the request. 
(2) REDACTION
AND
REVISION.—In carrying 
out this section, the Clerk, on the basis of informa-
tion provided by the Director, may— 
(A) remove from the information included 
in the database (including from the issue brief, 
product, or report itself) the name and contact 
information regarding an employee of the Con-
gressional Research Service; 
(B) remove from the information included 
in the database (including from the issue brief, 
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product, or report itself) any material for which 
the Director determines that including the in-
formation on the database may infringe the 
copyright of a work protected under title 17, 
United States Code; and 
(C) make any changes in the information 
included in the database (including from the 
issue brief, product, or report itself) that the 
Director determines necessary to ensure that 
the information is accurate and current, except 
that if the Clerk makes any such change with 
respect to any material in the database, the 
Clerk shall indicate in the database (with such 
notation as the Clerk considers appropriate) 
that more current information is available with 
respect to the material than the information 
provided in the database. 
(3) METHOD OF REDACTION.—The Clerk shall 
carry out any redaction under paragraph (2)(C) in 
a manner which removes the least amount of mate-
rial necessary to carry out the purposes of the redac-
tion. 
(4) ASSISTANCE FROM DIRECTOR FOR AUTO-
MATIC REDACTION.—The Clerk shall consult with 
the Director to ensure the availability and implemen-
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tation of such technology as may be necessary to fa-
cilitate the automatic redaction of information under 
this subsection. 
(d) FURNISHING OF NECESSARY INFORMATION.— 
The Clerk shall consult with the Director to ensure that 
the Clerk is provided with all of the information necessary 
to carry out this section in such format as the Clerk con-
siders appropriate. 
SEC. 3. OTHER METHODS OF PUBLIC ACCESS. 
(a) ACCESS THROUGH WEBSITES OF MEMBERS AND 
COMMITTEES.—Each official public website of a Member 
of the House of Representatives, a committee of the House 
of Representatives, or a joint committee of the Congress 
shall permit members of the public to use the website to 
obtain the information contained in the database estab-
lished under section 2, in the same manner and to the 
same extent as Members, officers, employees, and offices 
of the House of Representatives may obtain such informa-
tion through the Congressional Research Service website. 
(b) REGULATIONS.—Subsection (a) shall be carried 
out in accordance with regulations promulgated by the 
Committee on House Administration of the House of Rep-
resentatives. 
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act— 
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(1) the term ‘‘Clerk’’ means the Clerk of the 
House of Representatives; 
(2) the term ‘‘Director’’ means the Director of 
the Congressional Research Service; and 
(3) the term ‘‘Member of the House of Rep-
resentatives’’ includes a Delegate or Resident Com-
missioner to the Congress. 
SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE. 
This resolution shall take effect upon the expiration 
of the 6-month period which begins on the date on which 
the resolution is agreed to, without regard to whether the 
regulations described in section 3(b) or any other regula-
tions have been promulgated prior to the expiration of 
such period. 
Æ 
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