In a letter sent to Senate leadership and first reported Thursday, the advocates ask that the Senate post bill and amendment text online as soon as it is made available to members. The group spans the political spectrum and includes the American Governance Institute, a nonpartisan nonprofit focused on strengthening democratic institutions, and the Foundation for American Innovation.

"The public and the press and the whole apparatus that supports the Senate to help understand what legislation is, they don't have access," said Daniel Schuman, executive director of the American Governance Institute and an author of the letter.

Schuman warned that the information gap is not merely an inconvenience. "Problems can often sneak through," he said. "At times, this has been a mechanism for the Senate to move legislation to avoid the proper public scrutiny." He pointed to 2013, when Congress quietly repealed provisions of a popular law restricting insider trading by members and requiring financial disclosure, a change that drew little public attention at the time.

The Congressional Record, the official account of legislative proceedings, does contain bill text and amendments, but it is not published until after the legislative day ends. As a result, measures offered and voted on the same day may not become publicly available until after the vote has already occurred.

Luke Hogg, a senior fellow at the Foundation for American Innovation, said the effort builds on internal improvements already made for Senate staff. "We've been working first to get the Senate to update their own systems internally," Hogg said. Now that staffers have reliable access to the text under consideration, he argued, "it should also be given to the American public."

The letter contends that the current system creates unequal access to information. Senate staff and interest groups with connections to offices often know what is being considered, while the Congressional Research Service, the Government Accountability Office, the press, and the public are frequently left in the dark. "Privileged access to public business that currently is the subject of floor debate should be minimized to the extent possible," the letter states.

The House of Representatives already publishes draft legislative text and proposed amendments online ahead of consideration, with rare exceptions, a contrast the advocates cite as a model for the Senate.

The coalition hopes the Senate will adopt the transparency measure when the new Congress convenes in January. An aide to Sen. Alex Padilla, the California Democrat expected to chair the Senate Rules Committee, said the senator is open to input on the proposal and on other ideas for improving how Congress functions. Senate Republican leader John Thune did not respond to a request for comment.

For communities far from Capitol Hill, the stakes are practical: legislation on health care, climate, and federal spending can move through the Senate quickly, and without early access to the text, local officials, advocates, and residents have little chance to weigh in before decisions are final. The push comes as voters across the country have signaled rising demand for accountability and results from Washington.