Google Endorses freeTHOMAS: Free Public Access to U.S. Federal Legislative Data in Bulk XML

Google has announced its support for Congress’s providing free public access in bulk XML to U.S. federal legislative data, in a new post by Seth Webb, Google’s Senior Policy Manager, entitled In Support of Legislative Transparency, on the Google Public Policy Blog.

The effort to persuade Congress to provide free public access to U.S. federal legislative data in bulk XML is popularly known as freeTHOMAS (hashtag #freeTHOMAS).

Mr. Webb writes:

We believe the ability to download bulk legislative data in formats like XML on a regular basis provides tremendous benefits. Website and app developers can use such data to provide up-to-date information on bills. Researchers can use it to perform studies. And politically-curious citizens can use it to follow legislation moving its way through Congress. [...] We applaud Congress for the work that it’s done to promote openness and look forward to a future of increased legislative transparency.

For more information, please see the complete post.

For more information about freeTHOMAS, please see Schuman: Major Transparency Milestone in Bulk Access Statement; the new post by David Moore of Participatory Politics Foundation entitled Next Steps in #freeTHOMAS Campaign; and Open Congress’s THOMAS bulk data access wiki.

HT @garvinfo

Tags: #freeTHOMAS, Bulk access to legislative data, Bulk XML access to legislative data, Daniel Schuman, Google, Google endorses #freeTHOMAS, Google supports #freeTHOMAS, Joshua Tauberer, Legal open government data, Legislative information systems, Open government data, Open legislative data, Public access to legal information, Public access to legislative information, Seth Webb, THOMAS, Tom Bruce