All of Congress’ research would be made available to the public for free under the government spending bill released Wednesday night, which would be a victory for transparency advocates and a boon to members of the public interested in governance.

The fiscal 2018 omnibus spending bill includes a provision that would require Congressional Research Service reports be made available to the public, through a website set up by the the Librarian of Congress.

The CRS, as it’s known, is effectively Congress’ in-house think tank. It prepares analysis and research on a wide range of topics for members of Congress, on recurring areas of interest and at members’ request. It also prepares descriptions and explanations for legislation.

Its products, though, aren’t readily available to the public. Some third-party sites collect and publish some reports, but not all in a timely and easily accessible fashion.

In recent years, congressional appropriators have toyed with the idea of requiring the research service to make its reports public, an idea backed by Reps. Leonard Lance, R-N.J., and Mike Quigley, D-Ill..

Former research service officials have argued that the public should have access to the agency’s work. A CRS report on a given topic can help anyone interested get up to speed on a matter of business before Congress.

The Congressional Research Service would receive nearly $120 million in funding for fiscal 2018 under the government-wide funding bill, which GOP and Democratic leaders hope to pass this week.

