Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Wikileaks - A Billion Dollars Worth of Secret Congressional Reports


The 6,780 reports, current as of this month, comprise over 127,000 pages of material on some of the most contentious issues in the nation, from the U.S. relationship with Israel to the financial collapse. Nearly 2,300 of the reports were updated in the last 12 months, while the oldest report goes back to 1990. The release represents the total output of the Congressional Research Service (CRS) electronically available to Congressional offices. The CRS is Congress's analytical agency and has a budget in excess of $100M per year. Click on the blue title above to access website. Reports may be searched alphabetically or chronologically.

Open government lawmakers such as Senators John McCain (R-Arizona) and Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vermont) have fought for years to make the reports public, with bills being introduced--and rejected--almost every year since 1998. The CRS, as a branch of Congress, is exempt from the Freedom of Information Act. Most of this information has also been saved by the University of Texas at the following website: http://digital.library.unt.edu/govdocs/crs/

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