Please read today's New York Times editorial on "Sharing Congress's Research" and urge Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to back Senator Leiberman's (I-CT) resolution to require the Congressional Research Service to post all of its research reports to Congress, except those that are classified.

CRS was created in 1914 within the Library of Congress to provide Congress with "authoritative, confidential, objective, and nonpartisan" analysis of legislative issues.  CRS's 450 analysts do everything from writing excellent background reports to providing assistance in drafting legislation.  It has experts on congressional procedure and experts on defense procurement.  When I worked on Capitol Hill, I valued the help I got on a wide range of diverse legislative topics.

The problem is that CRS reports are not made available to the public.  However, anyone with friends on Capitol Hill, including most lobbyists, can get any report they want. There is an excellent web site that publicizes most CRS reports, so what's the secret?

The only people excluded from regular access to CRS reports are -- you guessed it -- the American public.  CRS is very sensitive to visiting any negative public reaction on any member of Congress.  If CRS's confidentiality concerns actually protected members of Congress from scrutiny, I might understand, but when anyone in the know can get a CRS report, it's a little silly to restrict them.  The main reason CRS refuses to publicize its reports is to preserve the fiction that it is working for Congress and no one else.  If you look at the paychecks of every single CRS employee, you will find that they are paid by the American taxpayers.  Let's move into the 21st Century, drop the pretence, and admit that making CRS reports public will do only one thing -- the thing that some in Congress fear the most -- educate the average American.