Putting D.C. Online

In 1994, then House Speaker Newt Gingrich promised to post all congressional proceedings on the Internet as a way of launching what he called a “civilizational upheaval” in which “regular people in little towns”--not well-moneyed lobbyists--would manage affairs in Washington. In 1996, the representative from Georgia, swayed by the futurism of writer Alvin Toffler, helped pass the Electronic Freedom of Information Act, which required federal agencies to grant Americans prompt access to any information in their databases that could help “ensure an informed citizenry.”

Three years later, Gingrich’s revolution, far from online, is nowhere in sight. Rather than complying with the 1996 law, most parts of the executive, legislative and judicial branches of the U.S. government stand in blatant violation of it.

While the Supreme Court of Mongolia has its own official Web site, the U.S. Supreme Court doesn’t, forcing Americans to search through unofficial Web sites in hope of finding its briefs and opinions. While the Congressional Research Service makes its reports on vital issues like HMO reform instantly available online to legislators, taxpayers, who fund those studies, can get them only through the mail from their members of Congress.

If you are a soldier who believes he was made ill by the military’s anthrax vaccine, for example, you might want to know what was said in Tuesday’s hearing of the House Committee on Government Reform, in which Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles) and leading scientists discussed how the government should weigh a vaccine’s risks against its benefits. The full text of the hearing was available Tuesday to anyone who could afford a subscription to a private online data service.

Those hoping to access such supposedly public information on the Web, however, were out of luck. The House Government Reform Committee’s Web site lists transcripts from only a hodgepodge of committee hearings. The most recent transcript available at that site is from June.

Today, Sens. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) plan to hold a press conference in which they will release a study by two Washington public-interest groups on how federal agencies have failed to comply with the 1996 law. McCain and Leahy, along with David E. Price (D-N.C.) and Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) in the House, have introduced similar bills to require Congress to put Congressional Research Service documents online within 30 days. The measures currently are in the House and Senate rules committees.

Fundamental change won’t occur until national leaders like President Clinton, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) and House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) call upon all government agencies to honor the letter and spirit of the 1996 law.

Reforming the Congressional Research Service is only a baby step toward the revolution that legislators promised so bombastically. But it’s as good a place as any to start.

To Take Action: Rep. David Dreier (R-San Dimas), chairman, House Committee on Rules, (202) 225-2305, www.house.gov/dreier, click on “Feedback”; Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), chairman, Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, (202) 224-2541, e-mail, senator@mcconnell.senate.gov