Senator Robert M. La Follette’s amendment to a federal appropriations bill for the 1915 fiscal year authorized the Library of Congress “to employ competent persons to prepare . . . indexes, digests and compilations of laws” needed by legislators. Supported by Representative John M. Nelson of Wisconsin in the House, it passed Congress and was signed into law on July 15, 1914.
Records of the U.S. Senate, National Archives and Records Administration
Amendment to H.R. 15279, Legislative, Executive, and Judicial Fiscal Year 1915 Appropriations Act, June 13, 1914
The Legislative Reference Service
Progressive-Era reformers drew on experts to guide their policy proposals. Believing that the best legislator is a well-informed legislator, a dozen states established legislative reference bureaus between 1903 and 1913. In 1914 Representative John M. Nelson and Senator Robert M. La Follette, both of Wisconsin, were instrumental in creating the Legislative Reference Service (LRS) through an appropriations act amendment. The LRS––renamed the Congressional Research Service in 1970––is part of the Library of Congress. It objectively compiles and analyzes information requested by members of Congress for legislative purposes.
I determined . . . to see to it that a legislative reference bureau be established as an agency of helpfulness for Congress, to enlarge our individual and collective capacity of legislative service, to attain a maximum of legislative efficiency.
Representative John M. Nelson of Wisconsin, Hearings before the Committee on the Library, . . . , February 26, 1912
Senator Robert M. La Follette’s amendment to a federal appropriations bill for the 1915 fiscal year authorized the Library of Congress “to employ competent persons to prepare . . . indexes, digests and compilations of laws” needed by legislators. Supported by Representative John M. Nelson of Wisconsin in the House, it passed Congress and was signed into law on July 15, 1914.
Records of the U.S. Senate, National Archives and Records Administration
