🚀 go-pugleaf

Here is the results of the Congressional Documents letter sent on 
Wednesday. I was one of the 803 signatures.

Stand up and be counted.

thanks,                 "Those who accuse me of procrastinating in my
			 Christmas shopping are obviously unaware of the 
David Smith    		 modern business practice of 'just-in-time' 
bladex@bga.com		 inventories."    

---------- Forwarded message ----------

Congressional Reform Briefings               December 21, 1994

[To subscribe to Congressional Reform Briefings send the message
"subscribe cong-reform your name" to listproc@essential.org]

			NEWS RELEASE
                  
For Immediate Release:             For More Information Contact: 
Wednesday, December 21, 1994       Gary Ruskin (202) 296-2787
                                   James Love (610) 658-0880 

Over 800 Citizens Send Letter Urging Ehlers and Gingrich to
Provide Free Online Access to Congressional Documents

     A broad coalition of citizens sent a letter to Rep. Vern
Ehlers (R-MI-3), the "point man" for the House Republican
Transition Team's online efforts, in support of free online
access to a wide variety of Congressional documents, including
Congressional reports, Federal Election Commission campaign
filings, and Congressional Research Service reports.  The letter
was signed by 803 people, including corporate executives,
professors, librarians, engineers, journalists, teachers, and
citizen leaders across the country.

     Speaker-presumptive Newt Gingrich (R-GA-6) has repeatedly
voiced support for expanding online access to Congressional
documents, but the citizens coalition is concerned about the
details of the plan.  

     "Many of the documents that Newt Gingrich and others are
mentioning are already available to citizens, as a result of
actions taken by the Democrats," said Gary Ruskin, Director of
the Congressional Accountability Project.  "We are asking
Representatives Ehlers and Gingrich to truly expand access to
government documents, by opening up new databases which are still
largely inaccessible."

     "By providing wider access to Congressional and other
government documents, it will be easier for citizens to track our
Congress, and help prevent government boondoggles, blunders,
waste, and abuse," Ruskin said.

     "Citizens should have ready access to the information that
their own government produces," said James Love, Director of the
Taxpayer Assets Project.  "Members of Congress used our tax money
to prepare these documents; we should be able to read them in our
own homes, offices and libraries."

     Since October, citizens have enjoyed free access to the full
text of all House and Senate bills, the Congressional Record,
Federal Register and many other items through the popular GPO
Access program, but the future funding support for this problem
is in jeopardy.  

     "Newt Gingrich has indicated that citizens will have the
same access as beltway lobbyists to information before the
Congress," Love said.  "For this to happen, the Republicans will
have to provide access to many databases which are still largely
inaccessible, and to create mechanisms to engage the public in
constantly redefining what the new information technologies can
and should deliver."

     "We are providing Newt Gingrich and Vern Ehlers with a road
map to additional databases which are fundamental for citizen
scrutiny and democratic discourse.  This will be a reality check
on what so far has been a very positive rhetorical commitment,"
Ruskin said.

     The letter to Gingrich and Ehlers asks that Congress include
such databases as:
* Congressional reports (including committee reports), hearing
records (including verbatim transcriptions)
* Federal Election Commission campaign financial disclosure
filings
* Congressional Research Service reports and issue briefs
* Texts of federal laws and regulations
* The full text of Federal Court decisions, complete with a
public citation
* Congressional Budget Office reports
* Congressional news releases (including archives of all older
releases)

     In a November 11, 1994 speech to the Washington Research
Group, Rep. Gingrich said that "we will change the rules of the
House to require that all documents and all conference reports
and all committee reports be filed electronically as well as in
writing, and that they cannot be filed until they are available
to any citizen who wants to pull them up simultaneously, so that
information is available to every citizen in the country at the
same moment that it's available to the highest paid Washington
lobbyist.  That will change, over time, the entire flow of
information, and the entire quality of knowledge in the country,
and it will change the way people try to play games with the
legislative process."

     The Congressional Accountability Project is a congressional
reform group founded by Ralph Nader.  The Taxpayer Assets Project
is a part of the Center for Study of Responsive Law, which was
founded by Ralph Nader.

  		         -30-

[To subscribe to Congressional Reform Briefings send the message
"subscribe cong-reform your name" to listproc@essential.org]

PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY


Gary Ruskin
Congressional Accountability Project	|   Internet:	gary@essential.org
P.O. Box 19446
Washington, DC 20036
Phone: (202) 296-2787  Fax: (202) 833-2406




--
thanks,                 "Those who accuse me of procrastinating in my
			 Christmas shopping are obviously unaware of the 
David Smith    		 modern business practice of 'just-in-time' 
bladex@bga.com		 inventories."