Occasionally, federally elected officials fail to come to consensus on budgetary issues (sometimes for reasons having nothing to do with budgets), which forces the US Government to close for an unspecified amount of time until a compromise can be reached.
Once this happens, access to many websites, databases and reports sponsored and published by the Federal Government is turned off. Some webpages will remain available, although without updates or maintenance during the time of the government's closure. There are other organizations, however, including colleges and research institutions, that save valuable government resources in their repositories. Here are some alternatives to government sites that can be used during this (or at any) time. This list will be updated with relevant information during an active shutdown.
Please contact Aimee Slater with any questions or if you are looking for alternatives for a specific agency or department's information.
The CRS, a division of the Library of Congress, provides policy and legal analysis to representatives and senators in Congress. CRS reports are renown for authoritative, objective, and non-partisan research but are not directly released to the public. CRS reports are available in several online collections including:
It can be difficult to separate fact from hype so here are some resources that can help you navigate the tricky landscape of political rhetoric.
FactCheck.org - nonpartisan, nonprofit “consumer advocate” for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics. We monitor the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews and news releases.
Fact Checker from the Washington Post - The mission is to assess the statements of political figures regarding issues of great importance, be they national, international or local.
Project Vote Smart - Vote Smart's mission is to provide free, factual, unbiased information on candidates and elected officials to ALL Americans.
PolitiFact - PolitiFact is a project of the Tampa Bay Times and its partners to help you find the truth in politics. Every day, reporters and researchers from PolitiFact and its partner news organizations examine statements by members of Congress, state legislators, governors, mayors, the president, cabinet secretaries, lobbyists, people who testify before Congress and anyone else who speaks up in American politics. PolitiFact also ranks consistency of message.
Congressional Report Card - Since 1995, our non-partisan Report Cards have provided information on the most important, and often under-reported, part of each United States Congress member's job: making "good" laws. Report Cards popular now.
ICPSR is the world's largest collection of digital social science data. Find qualitative and quantitative datasets, accompanying codebooks, publication lists and more. Formats include SPSS, Stata and Excel. Access to this resource from off campus requires that users initially register for an account while on campus.
