Transparency groups say THOMAS legislative website is outdated

The Library of Congress’ THOMAS online system for tracking legislation is outdated and needs to be overhauled to better serve the public, according to more than two dozen transparency watchdog groups.

The THOMAS website ought to be changed to allow for bulk downloads of the legislative data, the groups wrote in an April 10 letter to members of Congress. While THOMAS, named after Thomas Jefferson, initially was an innovative provider of basic information, its technology has fallen behind the times and the system is difficult to use, the groups, including the Sunlight Foundation and Project on Government Oversight, wrote in their letter. Because of the difficulties with THOMAS, millions of Americans are relying on free third-party websites such as GovTrack, OpenCongress and Washington Watch, the groups asserted. But those websites still rely on THOMAS for the data, a process that is “imperfect, expensive and time-consuming,” the watchdog groups wrote.