Equal Access to Congressional Research Service Reports Act of 2017
Latest action. Referred to the House Committee on House Administration.
Equal Access to Congressional Research Service Reports Act of 2017
This bill directs the Government Publishing Office (GPO) to establish, maintain, and ensure the automatic updating of a public website containing Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports, and an index, that are searchable, sortable, and downloadable (including in bulk), for which no fee may be charged.
The CRS Reports on the website shall include CRS Authorization of Appropriations Products, Appropriations Products, and any other written CRS product containing CRS research or analysis that is available for general congressional access on the CRS Congressional Intranet.
The website shall exclude:
any custom product or service that is prepared in direct response to a request for custom analysis or research and that is not available for general congressional access on the CRS Congressional Intranet;
any CRS Report, Authorization of Appropriations Product, or Appropriations Product that is not available for general congressional access on the CRS Congressional Intranet; or
any written CRS product that CRS has made available on a public website (other than the website established pursuant to this bill) maintained by the GPO or the Library of Congress.
Before transmitting a CRS Report to the GPO for publication on the website, CRS may remove the name of, and any contact information for, any CRS employee.
The Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 is amended to require CRS to comply with this bill.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on May 3, 2017. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on May 3, 2017: Referred to the House Committee on House Administration.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 115th Congress (2017-18), 442 of the 11,421 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.9 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Leonard Lance (R-NJ) introduced it on May 3, 2017, and 4 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 3 Democrats, 1 Republican.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on May 3, 2017, 3417 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 3417 days ago, on May 3, 2017.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 115th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2019 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers