You are here: Fairness.com > Resources > Congressional Research Service (CRS)

Congressional Research Service (CRS)


Self Description

September 2004: "The Congressional Research Service is the public policy research arm of the United States Congress. As a legislative branch agency within the Library of Congress, CRS works exclusively and directly for Members of Congress, their Committees and staff on a confidential, nonpartisan basis...

Congress created CRS in order to have its own source of nonpartisan, objective analysis and research on all legislative issues. Indeed, the sole mission of CRS is to serve the United States Congress. CRS has been carrying out this mission since 1914, when it was first established as the Legislative Reference Service. Renamed the Congressional Research Service by the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970, CRS is committed to providing the Congress, throughout the legislative process, comprehensive and reliable analysis, research and information services that are timely, objective, nonpartisan, and confidential, thereby contributing to an informed national legislature."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3540-2004Sep7.html

Third-Party Descriptions

May 2008: "But according to a Congressional Research Service study that he ordered, the federal government has no umbrella legal authority that allows agencies to take a cut of each earmark, and it has no overall standard for how much agencies should take."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/20/washington/20earmark.html

September 2007: Iraqi authorities have issued previous complaints about shootings by private military contractors, the Congressional Research Service reported in July.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/09/17/iraq.main/index.html

Relationships

RoleNameTypeLast Updated
Owned by (partial or full, past or present) US Federal Government: Congress (Legislative Branch) Organization Sep 17, 2004
Employee/Freelancer/Contractor (past or present) Mark M. Lowenthal Ph.D. Person Jan 12, 2009

Articles and Resources

Date Fairness.com Resource Read it at:
Sep 09, 2011 Pipeline Spills Put Safeguards Under Scrutiny

QUOTE: The little-known federal agency charged with monitoring the system and enforcing safety measures — the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration — is chronically short of inspectors and lacks the resources needed to hire more, leaving too much of the regulatory control in the hands of pipeline operators themselves...

 New York Times
May 25, 2011 How Can Congress Debate a Secret Law?

QUOTE: Legal scholars, law professors, advocacy groups, and the Congressional Research Service have all written interpretations of the Patriot Act and Americans can read any of these interpretations and decide whether they support or agree with them. But by far the most important interpretation of what the law means is the official interpretation used by the U.S. government and this interpretation is - stunningly -classified.

 Huffington Post
Sep 11, 2009 Joe Wilson aftermath: Illegals get scrutiny in health reform: Current healthcare bills don’t explicitly mention how illegal immigrants would be treated under some important provisions.

QUOTE: Republicans in general charge that since none of the [healthcare] bills contain enforcement mechanisms to check that recipients of government subsidies are legal, illegal immigrants would be able to sneak into the system and get US cash [for healthcare subsidies] anyway.

 Christian Science Monitor
Sep 05, 2009 Health Care Debate Revives Immigration Battle

QUOTE: During the summer recess, members of Congress faced persistent questions from constituents worried that health care changes could leave taxpayers footing medical bills for illegal immigrants.

 New York Times
Jun 15, 2009 Tobacco Regulation Is Expected to Face a Free-Speech Challenge

QUOTE: The marketing and advertising restrictions in the tobacco law that Congress passed last week are likely to be challenged in court on free-speech grounds. The controversy... involves tension between the right of tobacco companies to communicate with adult smokers and the public interest in preventing young people from smoking.

 New York Times
May 26, 2008 New Civil War Feared in Sudan As Town Empties

QUOTE: According to that deal, government and southern forces were to withdraw from the area once boundaries were determined by an independent commission. Abyei residents were to decide whether to join the north or the south in a 2011 referendum, when southerners are to vote on secession from the north...Now, southern officials are accusing Bashir of using a minor street scuffle this month as an excuse to unleash a brutal military campaign that they say is aimed at clearing the area of its pro-southern population ahead of the referendum.

 Washington Post
May 20, 2008 Not All Earmarks Are Paid in Full, and a Senator Wants to Know Why

QUOTE: While many of his questions remain unanswered, Mr. Nelson says that federal agencies have been taking a cut from earmarked funds for years, some for unrelated purposes as varied as staff salaries and postage stamps. Mr. Nelson calls the practice “earmark skimming,” and lately he has become increasingly vocal over what he describes as unaccountable federal bureaucrats diverting millions of dollars into agency “slush funds

 New York Times
May 20, 2008 Little Orphan Artworks

QUOTE: The problem of orphan works is real. It was caused by a fundamental shift in the architecture of copyright law. Before 1978, copyright was an opt-in system, granting protection only to those who registered and renewed their copyright, and only if they marked their creative work with the famous ©. But three decades ago, Congress created an opt-out system. Copyright protection is now automatic, and it extends for almost a century, whether the author wants or needs it or even knows that his work is regulated by federal law.

 New York Times
May 01, 2008 Report Questions Quality of Medical Care for Workers in War Zones (Federal Diary)

QUOTE: The Defense Department, for example, has issued a memo that provides medical care for injured Defense civil service employees at the same level and scope of that provided to military personnel. But that directive may not be sufficient or properly implemented, the report said.

 Washington Post
Sep 17, 2007 Iraq battle was self-defense, security firm says

QUOTE: The weekend's incident raised concerns in the U.S. Congress about the use of private security guards. Rep. Henry Waxman, whose House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held hearings on contractor operations in February, said he will hold new hearings into the issue in light of Sunday's shootings.

 CNN (Cable News Network)
Jul 18, 2007 Japan Warns U.S. House Against Resolution on WWII Sex Slaves

QUOTE: [Japanese Ambassador Ryozo Kato] said that since 1993 Japan has repeatedly and officially apologized for its harsh treatment of "comfort women," the term used for the estimated 50,000 to 200,000 Asian women forced by the Japanese government into brothels before and during World War II.

 Washington Post
May 28, 2007 U.S. Africa Command Brings New Concerns: Fears of Militarization on Continent Cited

QUOTE: The creation of the Defense Department Africa Command, with responsibilities to promote security and government stability in the region, has heightened concerns among African countries and in the U.S. government over the militarization of U.S. foreign policy, according to a newly released study by the Congressional Research Service. .... AFRICOM raises oversight issues for congressional committees, according to the report.

 Washington Post
Jan 30, 2007 Israel May Have Misused Cluster Bombs, U.S. Says

QUOTE: The State Department notified Congress yesterday that Israel may have violated U.S. rules prohibiting the use of American-made cluster bombs in civilian areas during last summer's war in Lebanon.

 Washington Post
Feb 09, 2006 Patriot Act e-mail spying approved (Police Blotter)

QUOTE: The Justice Department asks a judge to approve Patriot Act e-mail monitoring without any evidence of criminal behavior .... E-mail surveillance approved.

 News.com
Feb 03, 2006 Earmark -- It's $$$, Not Body Art

QUOTE: Earmarks are supposed to go through a public process. Lawmakers, acting on a need in their districts or states, submit a written request to the appropriate congressional subcommittee and ask the panel's members for support -- in private and at an open hearing. Instead, projects, many of which are never openly considered, are handed out as favors in exchange for votes on key pieces of legislation by party leaders and appropriations chairmen.

 Washington Post
Jan 07, 2006 Report Rebuts Bush on Spying: Domestic Action's Legality Challenged

QUOTE: A report by Congress's research arm concluded yesterday that the administration's justification for the warrantless eavesdropping authorized by President Bush conflicts with existing law and hinges on weak legal arguments.

 Washington Post
Dec 16, 2005 Report: Bush Had More Prewar Intelligence Than Congress

QUOTE: Democrats said the 14-page report contradicts Bush's contention that lawmakers saw all the evidence before U.S. troops invaded in March 2003, stating that the president and a small number of advisers "have access to a far greater volume of intelligence and to more sensitive intelligence information."

 Washington Post
Dec 03, 2005 Report Accuses EPA of Slanting Analysis: Hill Researchers Say Agency Fixed Pollution Study to Favor Bush's 'Clear Skies'

QUOTE: The Bush administration skewed its analysis of pending legislation on air pollution to favor its bill over two competing proposals...The Environmental Protection Agency's Oct. 27 analysis of its plan -- along with those of Sens. Thomas R. Carper (D-Del.) and James M. Jeffords (I-Vt.) -- exaggerated the costs and underestimated the benefits of imposing more stringent pollution curbs, the independent, nonpartisan congressional researchers wrote...

 Washington Post
Sep 08, 2004 Ex-Medicare Chief's Pay Illegal, GAO Says

QUOTE: The Department of Health and Human Services should have withheld former Medicare chief Thomas A. Scully's salary last year because Scully wrongly kept a subordinate from giving Congress higher cost estimates on the Medicare prescription drug law...

 Washington Post
Jul 31, 2001 About That Trust Fund

QUOTE: The President's Commission to Strengthen Social Security...has sparked a vigorous debate on the nature of the Social Security trust fund.

 Washington Post