I first started working for Congress as a senate intern in September 2001. I was 23 years old and had no experience working on policy. I found myself responding to letters from constituents on issues that I’d never heard of previously. It was then that I first encountered the Congressional Research Service and its reports. […]
Continue reading... October 21, 2016
Why I Came To Believe CRS Reports Should be Publicly Available (and Built a Website to Make it Happen)
October 21, 2016
Five bad arguments against public access to CRS reports
This week the progressive organization Demand Progress, along with the Congressional Data Coalition, launched EveryCRSReport.com. This new project site makes available, with the help of friendly Congressional offices, all Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports on Congress’ own internal site. The public now has access to more than 8,200 reports in one searchable database (you can […]
Continue reading... October 20, 2016
It’s Time To Make Taxpayer-Funded Congressional Reports Available To The Public
This piece was originally published in the Daily Caller and co-authored by R Street Institute technology policy program director Zach Graves. American taxpayers support the $140 million a year expenditures of the Congressional Research Service, an independent and highly influential think tank housed within the Library of Congress. The agency’s mission is to advise members and committees […]
Continue reading... October 4, 2016
House launches a public-facing phone directory for all staff
As promised at the 2016 Legislative Data and Transparency Conference, the House of Representatives launched a public-facing phone directory for all its staff. This is a tremendously useful tool. It provides authentic, up-to-date information on the people who work in the people’s house. While it (reasonably) does not contain email addresses, it has phone numbers, […]
Continue reading... August 29, 2016
Kudos to House of Reps. for Releasing its Spending Info as Data
Today the House of Representatives published its spending information as structured data (a CSV) in addition to printing three volumes of tables. This is the second time it has done so. (I wrote about it the last time it happenedand why it is important for accountability.) Okay, Senate, it’s your turn. Publish your semi-annual spending […]
Continue reading... August 2, 2016
The Constitution (Annotated) In Your Pocket
After a powerful speech by Khizr Khan at the Democratic National Convention, sales of pocket U.S. Constitutions have skyrocketed, becoming the second best selling book on Amazon. This is great! But the words of the Constitution are unsufficient to provide an understanding into how it has been applied by the courts over the last two […]
Continue reading... June 22, 2016
Report from the 2016 Legislative Data & Transparency Conference
Today the House of Representatives’ Committee on House Administration hosted its fifth annual Legislative Data & Transparency Conference in the U.S. Capitol. The Conference brought together staff from House and Senate and legislative support offices, civil society advocates, technologists, overseas legislatures, and featured a speech by House Speaker Paul Ryan. More than 150 people attended, […]
Continue reading... June 17, 2016
2016 Legislative Data and Transparency Conference is this Tuesday, June 21
The House’s Legislative Data and Transparency Conference is this Tuesday, June 21, from 9-4, in the Capitol Visitor Center auditorium in Washington, DC. RSVP here. The conference brings together individuals from Legislative Branch agencies with data users and transparency advocates to foster a conversation about the use of legislative data – addressing how agencies use technology […]
Continue reading... June 1, 2016
House of Reps’ Spending Info Is Now Online as Data
Yesterday the House of Representatives began publishing its spending data online as a spreadsheet (and continued publishing it online as a PDF file). As Josh Tauberer explains in Open Government Data: The Book, the compilation of spending data, known as the Statements of Disbursements, includes “how much congressmen and their staffs are paid, what kinds of […]
Continue reading... May 13, 2016
Data Coalition Celebrates New Open Data Law on Capitol Hill
On Wednesday, the Data Coalition hosted a Legislative Data Demo Day to show what’s possible when we make our laws and legislation more accessible. Across all of our policy initiatives, the Data Coalition encourages federal and state governments to create or collect data in machine-readable structures using non-proprietary formats. This past Wednesday we explored how […]
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