Congressional Security

Appropriations, Congressional Security, Congressional Workplace Fairness and Inclusion, Ethics and Influence, First Branch Forecast, Blog posts

Forecast for April 26, 2021

By DanielSchuman April 26, 2021 14 min read

Welcome to the First Branch Forecast, your weekly look into the Legislative branch and government transparency. Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe here. TOP LINE Staffers on Capitol Hill continue to bear the trauma and burn out from working through a pandemic, the 2020 election, and the insurrection, leading many staff to leave their jobs, according to Business […]

Tags: Staff Pay, Office of Congressional Ethics, US Capitol Police, January 6, Earmarks, Political Violence, Cybersecurity

Appropriations, Congressional Security, Congressional Workplace Fairness and Inclusion, Continuity and Resiliency, Modernization, First Branch Forecast, Blog posts

Forecast for April 19, 2021

By DanielSchuman April 19, 2021 23 min read

Welcome to the First Branch Forecast, your weekly look into the Legislative branch and government transparency. (Tell your friends to subscribe.) TOP LINE White nationalism has no place in Congress and yet several representatives on Friday were gathering support to start the America First Caucus, ostensibly focused on Anglo-Saxon “political traditions,” per PunchBowl.news. The America First Committee, the obvious antecedent, […]

Tags: Congressional Research Service, Access to Congressionally Mandated Reports Act, Staff Pay, US Capitol Police, January 6, MRA, Earmarks, Congressional Data, White Supremacy, Science & Tech, Leg Support Agencies, Political Violence, Cybersecurity

Accountability and Oversight, Appropriations, Congressional Security, Ethics and Influence, Modernization, Appropriation Tracking, First Branch Forecast, Blog posts

Forecast for April 12, 2021

By DanielSchuman April 12, 2021 11 min read

Welcome to the First Branch Forecast, your weekly look into the Legislative branch and government transparency. (Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe here.) TOP LINE Welcome back, Congress. Send me a final out-of-office email so that I know you missed me. Biden’s $1.5 trillion skinny budget was finally submitted to Congress on Friday. It would increase […]

Tags: US Capitol Police, SCOTUS, Congressional Ops

Appropriations, Congressional Security, Congressional Workplace Fairness and Inclusion, Ethics and Influence, First Branch Forecast, Blog posts

Forecast for April 5, 2021.

By DanielSchuman April 5, 2021 19 min read

Welcome to the First Branch Forecast, your weekly look into the Legislative branch and government transparency. (Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe here.) TOP LINE Capitol Police officer William F. Evans died and another officer was injured on Friday after sustaining injuries when a vehicle driven by Noah Green apparently tried to break through a barrier on the Constitution […]

Tags: Staff Pay, US Capitol Police, January 6, Whistleblower Protections, Political Violence, Proxy Voting

Congressional Security, Congressional Workplace Fairness and Inclusion, Continuity and Resiliency, Modernization, First Branch Forecast, Blog posts

Forecast for March 29, 2021.

By DanielSchuman March 29, 2021 16 min read

Welcome to the First Branch Forecast, your weekly look into the Legislative branch and government transparency. (Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe here.) TOP LINE We made it. The House and Senate are on recess for the next two weeks. With members at home, at fundraisers, or on CODELs, staff will have an opportunity to catch […]

Tags: Freedom of Information Act, Earmarks

Congressional Security, Reports & Analysis

New Capitol Police Misconduct Complaint Report Obscures More Than it Reveals

By DanielSchuman March 17, 2021 4 min read

Complaints about U.S. Capitol Police operations, including accounts of racist misconduct within the department and managerial abuses of power, have recently been elevated in the wake of the January 6th attack on Congress. Hard information is hard to come by as it is nearly impossible to get any official data on employee misconduct from the […]

Tags: US Capitol Police

Accountability and Oversight, Appropriations, Congressional Security, Ethics and Influence, First Branch Forecast, Blog posts

Forecast for March 8, 2021

By DanielSchuman March 8, 2021 24 min read

Welcome to the First Branch Forecast, your weekly look into the Legislative branch and government transparency. (Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe here.) THE TOP LINE General Honoré will brief Congress today in three closed meetings on his “Capitol Security Review” that was conducted out of public view over the last six weeks. The NYT published a […]

Tags: Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress, Freedom of Information Act, Staff Pay, Foreign Lobbying, Office of Congressional Ethics, US Capitol Police, January 6, Political Violence, War Powers

Accountability and Oversight, Appropriations, Congressional Security, First Branch Forecast, Blog posts

Forecast for March 1, 2021.

By DanielSchuman March 1, 2021 22 min read

Welcome to the First Branch Forecast, your weekly look into the Legislative branch and government transparency. (Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe here.) TOP LINE Officials tasked with keeping the Capitol safe and open testified before Congress last week — see the video & written testimony from the HSGAC/Senate Rules hearing with all the former security leaders and […]

Tags: Freedom of Information Act, Staff Pay, Diversity and Inclusion, US Capitol Police, January 6, Judicial Security and Privacy Act, Earmarks, Leg Support Agencies, Office of Congressional Workplace Rights, Political Violence, Cybersecurity

Appropriations, Congressional Security, Congressional Workplace Fairness and Inclusion, Continuity and Resiliency, Ethics and Influence, First Branch Forecast, Blog posts

Forecast for February 22, 2021

By DanielSchuman February 22, 2021 15 min read

Welcome to the First Branch Forecast, your weekly look into the Legislative branch and government transparency. (Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe here.) SUPPORTING CONGRESSIONAL STAFF + MEMBERS The Office of Employee Assistance (OEA) and mental health inside the Legislative branch was the topic of the first Leg branch Appropriations subcommittee hearing for the FY 2022 appropriations cycle, […]

Tags: Diversity and Inclusion, House Ethics Committee, US Capitol Police, January 6, Earmarks, Political Violence, Cybersecurity

Accountability and Oversight, Appropriations, Congressional Security, Continuity and Resiliency, First Branch Forecast, Blog posts

Forecast for February 15, 2021

By DanielSchuman February 15, 2021 11 min read

THE TOP LINE Impeachment Trial. There’s no legitimate question about Trump’s guilt, the Senate confirmed its jurisdiction 56-44 (which is basically what CRS said), and jury nullification is not a legitimate option. What’s at stake for Trump: disqualification from serving again in high office. What’s at stake for America? Whether we suffocate our democracy. Sen. McConnell declared his support for […]

Tags: Freedom of Information Act, US Capitol Police, January 6, Proxy Voting

Congressional Security, Coalition Letters, Advocacy, Blog posts

An Open Congress Cannot Be Fenced Off

By DanielSchuman February 15, 2021 4 min read

Demand Progress, the Lincoln Network, and a coalition of organizations wrote to legislators this week to express our concern and strong opposition to the proposed permanent fencing surrounding the U.S. Capitol. On January 6th, insurrectionists successfully breached security and stormed the U.S. Capitol with lawmakers, employees, essential workers, and journalists inside. In the aftermath of […]

Tags: US Capitol Police, January 6, Coalition

2.11.21

Forecast for April 26, 2021

Forecast for April 19, 2021

Forecast for April 12, 2021

Forecast for April 5, 2021.

Forecast for March 29, 2021.

New Capitol Police Misconduct Complaint Report Obscures More Than it Reveals

Forecast for March 8, 2021

Forecast for March 1, 2021.

Forecast for February 22, 2021

Forecast for February 15, 2021

An Open Congress Cannot Be Fenced Off

Recommendations for the FY 2022 Appropriations Security Supplemental

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