Klobuchar Supports Bipartisan Legislation to Give Public Access to Congressional Research Service Reports

Press Release

Senator Amy Klobuchar is supporting bipartisan legislation to give the public access to Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports. Currently, the CRS does not publish its reports, but individuals and lobbyists with contacts on Capitol Hill often obtain them and provide them to commercial websites. In turn, those websites make them accessible to their paying customers. Meanwhile, taxpayers who pay over $100 million annually to fund the CRS cannot access the reports. The Equal Access to Congressional Research Service Reports Act would direct the CRS to publish its reports online at no charge so that anyone with an internet connection can read CRS reports, which provide insight into the important issues before Congress and are paid for by taxpayers.

"Opening Congressional Research Service reports to the public will provide citizens with more nonpartisan information about everything from the national debt to prescription drug costs to foreign policy," said Klobuchar. "I'll continue working with Senators Leahy and McCain on our bipartisan effort to make these tax-payer funded reports available to all at the click of a mouse."

This bipartisan bill has been endorsed by a diverse range of civil society and grassroots organizations.

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