“The Twilight Zone”: Congressionally Chartered Organizations

Abstract

Governments worldwide have established a variety of corporations, instrumentalities, quasi-official agencies, quangos, and other “hybrid” entities. This paper explores congressionally chartered organizations (CCOs) in the United States. First, it seeks to explain why CCOs exist and why Congress establishes them. Next, it reviews the cases of some specific organizations to illustrate the complexities of these anomalous entities. It concludes with a discussion of how CCO publications are treated in the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) and how laws that promote public access may not be applicable to CCOs.