The Sale of Congressional Information

November 14, 2012 11:22 AM

There seems to be something a little fishy about selling information that is paid for by taxpayers, like CRS reports, through private companies. There must be a simple way to establish public databases.
posted by SnuffyMcDuffy (4 comments total)

Oh hey, there's such a thing as Open CRS. It makes public CRS reports which people have requested (think RECAP, if you're familiar with that). More government openness, especially for taxpayer-funded research, is good!
posted by librarylis at 11:25 AM on November 14, 2012 [2 favorites]

I saw that Open CRS had a recent post, but beyond that they're a few years behind.
posted by SnuffyMcDuffy at 11:27 AM on November 14, 2012

Their recent reports section seems pretty well populated . Awesome resource though, I hadn't been aware of it until now.
posted by el io at 11:29 AM on November 14, 2012 [1 favorite]

A lot of times the data is out there, but these third party folks are wrapping it up in a better interface. I wouldn't call it a scam or fishy, but I wish the government came up with a better way of presenting the data.

I often find a phone call or two to the original source of the data/report gets you all the access you would want.

They usually will even explain to you what the data says to them, how they collected it, and offer up suggestions for where else to look.
posted by JPD at 11:31 AM on November 14, 2012