CRS Reports in Scope of the FDLP

The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018 includes a provision titled, “Equal Access to Congressional Research Service Reports,” which directs the Congressional Research Service (CRS) to make non-confidential CRS Reports freely-available to the public. The Librarian of Congress, in consultation with the CRS Director, shall establish and maintain a public website containing CRS Reports and an index of all CRS Reports contained on the website.

Historically, distribution of CRS Reports was limited to Members of Congress. They were not considered in the public domain, and therefore, CRS Reports were out of scope of the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP). Once CRS Reports begin to be publicly-disseminated, these reports will be in scope of the FDLP. These reports will then be cataloged and made available via the Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (CGP) with links to the CRS website.