LibGuides: Rappaport Center for Law and Public Policy Resources: Government and Other Reports

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Government Reports

Government reports can assist policy researchers by allowing them to see how the government is spending money or interpreting information when considering how to make laws. Below are a few places researchers can locate government reports.

Congressional Budget Office
Since 1975, CBO has produced independent analyses of budgetary and economic issues to support the Congressional budget process. Each year, the agency’s economists and budget analysts produce dozens of reports and hundreds of cost estimates for proposed legislation. CBO is strictly nonpartisan; conducts objective, impartial analysis; and hires its employees solely on the basis of professional competence without regard to political affiliation. CBO does not make policy recommendations, and each report and cost estimate summarizes the methodology underlying the analysis.
Congressional Research Service
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) works exclusively for the United States Congress, providing policy and legal analysis to committees and Members of both the House and Senate, regardless of party affiliation. As a legislative branch agency within the Library of Congress, CRS has been a valued and respected resource on Capitol Hill for more than a century.
U.S. Government Accountability Office
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is an independent, nonpartisan agency that works for Congress. Often called the "congressional watchdog," GAO investigates how the federal government spends taxpayer dollars.
GAO reports can be found on the GAO's website as well as on FDSys.gov and Westlaw.

Additional Sources for Reports

Federal and state governments aren't the only bodies issuing reports researchers may find useful. Below are links to several other organizations and resources for locating reports on public policy. Some of these organizations are think tanks specializing in one area of research, others are resources for accessing policy debates and transcripts of live debates.

PolicyArchive
PolicyArchive is an innovative, new digital archive of global, non-partisan public policy research. It makes use of the power, efficiency, and economy of modern Internet technology to collect and disseminate summaries and full texts, videos, reports, briefs, and multimedia material of think tank, university, government, and foundation-funded policy research. It offers a subject index, an internal search engine, useful abstracts, email notifications of newly added research, and will soon expand to offer information on researchers and funders, and even user-generated publication reviews. Over time, it will grow to include policy content from international and corporate organizations.
C-SPAN Video Library
The C-SPAN Archives records, indexes, and archives all C-SPAN programming for historical, educational, research, and archival uses. Every C-SPAN program aired since 1987, almost totaling over 209,000 hours, is contained in the C-SPAN Archives and immediately accessible through the database and electronic archival systems developed and maintained by the C-SPAN Archives.
Harvard University Think Tank Search
This resource provides researchers with a custom Google think tank search as well as a listing of think tanks located in the United States and globally.
Think Tanks Listing by SourceWatch
This resources provides researchers with links to an extensive number of think tanks.
Master Government List of Federally Funded R&D Centers
This list, from the National Science Foundation, provides links to all federally funded research and development centers.