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 and the Secretary of Senate, work-
ing jointly and in consultation with the Director of 
the Congressional Research Service, shall establish 
and maintain a centralized, searchable, 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 or Senate through the Congres-
sional Research Service website; and 
(B) an index of the information described 
in subparagraph (A). 
(2) INFORMATION
DESCRIBED.—The informa-
tion described in this paragraph is as follows: 
(A) Congressional Research Service Issue 
Briefs. 
(B) Congressional Research Service Re-
ports. 
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(C) Congressional Research Service Au-
thorization of Appropriations Products and Ap-
propriations Products. 
(b) LIMITATIONS.— 
(1) CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION.—Subsection 
(a) does not apply to— 
(A) any information that is confidential, as 
determined by— 
(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 is the product of a 
confidential research request made by a Mem-
ber, officer, employee, or office of the House of 
Representatives or Senate. 
(2) REDACTION
AND
REVISION.—In carrying 
out this section, the Clerk and the Secretary, on the 
basis of information provided by the Director, 
may— 
(A) remove from the information included 
in the database the name and phone number of, 
and any other information regarding, an em-
ployee of the Congressional Research Service; 
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(B) remove from the information included 
in the database any material for which the Di-
rector determines that including the informa-
tion 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 that the Director de-
termines necessary to ensure that the informa-
tion is accurate and current. 
(c) PRIOR APPROVAL NOT REQUIRED.—Notwith-
standing any provision of law to the contrary, the Director 
may take such actions as may be necessary to enable the 
Clerk and Secretary to establish and maintain the data-
base under this section, including providing the informa-
tion described in subsection (a)(2), without obtaining the 
prior approval of the Committee on Rules and Administra-
tion of the Senate, the Committee on House Administra-
tion of the House of Representatives, or the Joint Com-
mittee on Printing. 
SEC. 3. METHOD OF PUBLIC ACCESS. 
(a) ACCESS THROUGH WEBSITES OF MEMBERS AND 
COMMITTEES.—Each official public website of a Member 
of the House of Representatives or Senate, a committee 
of the House of Representatives or Senate, or a joint com-
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mittee of the Congress shall permit members of the public 
to use the website to obtain the information contained in 
the database established under section 2, in the same 
manner and to the same extent as Members, officers, em-
ployees, and offices of the House of Representatives and 
Senate may obtain such information through the Congres-
sional Research Service website. 
(b) REGULATIONS.—Subsection (a) shall be carried 
out— 
(1) in the case of websites of Members and 
committees of the House of Representatives, in ac-
cordance with regulations promulgated by the Com-
mittee on House Administration of the House of 
Representatives; 
(2) in the case of websites of Members and 
committees of the Senate, in accordance with regula-
tions promulgated by the Committee on Rules and 
Administration of the Senate; and 
(3) in the case of any other website to which 
subsection (a) applies, in accordance with regula-
tions promulgated jointly by the Committee on 
House Administration of the House of Representa-
tives and the Committee on Rules and Administra-
tion of the Senate. 
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SEC. 4. NO RESPONSE TO PUBLIC INQUIRIES REQUIRED. 
Nothing in this Act shall be construed to require the 
Director to respond to any inquiry made by a member of 
the public with respect to any of the information contained 
in the database established and maintained under section 
2 or made available the public on the Internet pursuant 
to section 3. 
SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act— 
(1) the term ‘‘Clerk’’ means the Clerk of the 
House of Representatives; 
(2) the term ‘‘Director’’ means the Director of 
the Congressional Research Service; 
(3) the term ‘‘Member of the House of Rep-
resentatives’’ includes a Delegate or Resident Com-
missioner to the Congress; and 
(4) the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 
of the Senate. 
Æ 
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