# Congressional Research Service The **Congressional Research Service (CRS)** is the nonpartisan public-policy research arm of Congress, housed within the [[Library of Congress]]. Often called "Congress's think tank," it produces objective, confidential analysis and reports for members and committees on virtually every policy question — legal, economic, scientific, and historical — without taking sides or making recommendations. Founded in 1914 (as the Legislative Reference Service), it is one of the institutional supports that lets Congress legislate from its own expertise rather than relying on the executive branch or outside lobbyists. For the KB, CRS is part of the **legislative branch's independent fact-producing capacity** — the same category as the [[Congressional Budget Office]] and the [[Government Accountability Office]] — and shares their vulnerability: nonpartisan analysis is only as durable as the institutions that house it, and the 2025 executive takeover of its parent [[Library of Congress]] put that independence under question. This is a stub; expand with the CRS report system, its confidentiality model, and the politics of its products becoming public. ## See Also - [[Library of Congress]] - [[Congressional Budget Office]] - [[Government Accountability Office]] - [[Congress]] - [[Legislative Agencies Hub]]