Four months after the retirement of the previous director of the Congressional Research Service (CRS), Daniel Mulhollan, no successor has been named. Today, the Library of Congress posted a solicitation on USA Jobs seeking applicants for the position of CRS Director.
“A successful candidate for this position should have thorough, substantive knowledge of the Congress as an institution and its operations. The candidate should have experience interacting with Members of Congress and their staffs, and should possess first-hand knowledge of congressional decision-making, processes, and procedures,” the job announcement said.
Anyone with ideas of opening up CRS to interactions with the larger world would not be welcome.
Applicants “should have a strong desire to work exclusively for Congress,” the announcement said, reflecting the legacy view that CRS should not be responsive to anyone but Congress, and should not even make non-confidential CRS publications available to the public.
Recent CRS reports that are not publicly available from CRS include the following (all pdf).
“Suicide, PTSD, and Substance Use Among OEF/OIF Veterans Using VA Health Care: Facts and Figures,” July 18, 2011
“The State of Campaign Finance Policy: Recent Developments and Issues for Congress,” July 18, 2011
“Fairness Doctrine: History and Constitutional Issues,” July 13, 2011
“Chinese Tire Imports: Section 421 Safeguards and the World Trade Organization (WTO),” July 12, 2011
“State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs: FY2012 Budget and Appropriations,” July 22, 2011
“The Republic of South Sudan: Opportunities and Challenges for Africa’s Newest Country,” July 25, 2011
“Critical Infrastructures: Background, Policy and Implementation,” July 11, 2011
“National Security Letters: Proposals in the 112th Congress,” June 30, 2011
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?
“One in three Americans report being personally affected by extreme weather in just the past two years – illustrating that extreme weather has become extremely common,” said Dr. Hannah Safford.
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.