Post by bot on Mar 4, 2016 9:19:45 GMT -5
Hoyer, McCarthy Applaud Today’s Release of Bulk Access to Bill Status Information
WASHINGTON, DC - House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (MD) and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (CA) issued a statement of support of today’s release of bulk access to House and Senate bill status information by the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) and Library of Congress (LOC):
Democratic Whip Hoyer stated, “Building off previous releases of bills and summaries, today’s release of bill status information largely completes the overarching goal of providing bulk access to all the legislative data that traditionally has been housed on Thomas.gov and now also resides on Congress.gov. This is a major accomplishment that has been many years in the making. It goes a long way toward making Congress more transparent and accessible to innovation through third party apps and systems. I applaud the dedicated civil servants who made this possible at the Legislative Branch service agencies, and I want to thank the Bulk Data Task Force for their leadership in this effort. While this largely completes a major goal of the Task Force, I look forward to continuing to workwith them to further modernize the U.S. Congress.”
"Today’s release of bill status information via bulk download is a watershed moment for Congressional transparency," said Leader McCarthy. "By modernizing our approach to government and increasing public access to information, we can begin to repair the relationship between the people and their democratic institutions. The entire Congressional community applauds the dedication of the Legislative Branch Bulk Data Task Force, the Office of the Clerk, the House Appropriations Committee, GPO, and the Library of Congress, which worked together to make this progress possible.”