The Congressional Research Service launched its new public portal this morning, with an initial installment of 628 reports dating back to January of this year. The back catalog of older reports is supposed to be added over time.
The public versions of the reports are lightly redacted to remove the author’s contact information, and to add some boilerplate language about CRS.
At this point, CRS is only posting its primary “R series” reports, such as these newly updated documents (provided here in their original, unmodified format):
American War and Military Operations Casualties: Lists and Statistics, updated September 14, 2018
Congressional Primer on Responding to Major Disasters and Emergencies, updated September 13, 2018
“In keeping with our desire to engage users with the Library and its materials,” wrote Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden, “we are happy to see these reports put to the widest use possible.”
But other CRS product lines — including CRS In Focus, CRS Insight, and CRS Legal Sidebar — are not currently available through the public portal. So CRS reports like these must still be obtained independently:
Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks in U.S. Agriculture, CRS In Focus, September 17, 2018
Hurricane Florence: Brief Overview of FEMA Programs and Resources, CRS Insight, updated September 13, 2018
Locomotive Idling, Air Quality, and Blocked Crossings, CRS In Focus, updated September 13, 2018
The new public collection of CRS reports was created in response to legislation “ending the legal requirement prohibiting CRS from providing its products to the public,” according to CRS.
What if low trust was not a given? Or, said another way: what if we had the power to improve trust in government – what would that world look like?
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Datasets and variables that do not align with Administration priorities, or might reflect poorly on Administration policy impacts, seem to be especially in the cross-hairs.
One month of a government shutdown is in the books, but how many more months will (or can) it go? Congress is paralyzed, but there are a few spasms of activity around healthcare and the prospects of a continuing resolution to punt this fight out until January or later.