Modernization

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Forecast for July 13, 2020.

By DanielSchuman July 13, 2020 16 min read

THE TOP LINECongress may finally have begun investing in itself — House appropriators favorably reported a 5% increase in funding for the Legislative Branch. That’s half of the 10% increase sought by good government types (like us), and while Congress is still significantly below its funding level from a decade again, we are starting to dig out of […]

Forecast for July 6, 2020.

By DanielSchuman July 6, 2020 18 min read

Welcome back. This week will be busy in the House, so let’s go! THE TOP LINE The House Appropriations subcommittees are holding mark-ups all week, plus a Thursday vote on the 302(b) allocations and full committee markups on Thursday and Friday. The full schedule is at the bottom of this email. • One notable change: for the […]

Forecast for June 29, 2020

By DanielSchuman June 29, 2020 12 min read

THE TOP LINE Musical chairs. The House of Representatives will have new committee chairs in the 117th Congress, but how will they be chosen? That’s a difficult enough question that we dig into it below. NDAA. House Armed Services will markup the NDAA on Wednesday; on Monday, the Senate will resume consideration of the motion to […]

Forecast for June 22, 2020

By DanielSchuman June 22, 2020 14 min read

THE TOP LINE Appropriations subcommittee markups are now two weeks away, but there’s no agreement or public statement on how much money will be available to the 12 appropriations subcommittees. Today we released a letter urging a $500 million increase (+10%) in funding available for the legislative branch appropriations subcommittee, co-drafted with the Lincoln Network and signed by […]

Forecast for June 15, 2020

By DanielSchuman June 15, 2020 11 min read

THE TOP LINE The House schedule has changed again: June 25 and 26 are for police reform legislation; the week of June 29 is for health care and infrastructure (!!!!); and the last two weeks of July are for Appropriations and NDAA. Apropos approps: Oddly, the Senate will start approps mark-ups first, and some subcommittee bills will go directly […]

Forecast for April 13, 2020

By DanielSchuman April 13, 2020 12 min read

It has been another tough week just about everywhere. We hope you and yours are staying safe. This newsletter is becoming harder and harder to write, but we hope it is helpful as we work together to keep our democracy. CONTINUITY OF CONGRESS We launched a website that gathers all the major resources and developments on […]

How Has the Congressional Research Service’s Work Changed Over Thirty Years?

By DanielSchuman April 9, 2020 7 min read

How has the Congressional Research Service’s work changed over the last 30 years? We gathered almost five decades of the agency’s annual reports and built a spreadsheet of its self-reported activities. We found interesting patterns, the absence of expected patterns, and lots of missing data. Our key findings: First, CRS is decreasing its consultations with […]

Coronavirus Relief: Science and Tech Capacity in Congress

By DanielSchuman April 8, 2020 3 min read

Congress, heal thyself.   Congressional capacity (or lack thereof) to respond to a global pandemic is on full display.  Members in the House and Senate have tested positive, as have staff. Republicans in the Senate briefly held their majority by one (48-47 with 5 Republican Senators in quarantine). Members are limited to in-person deliberation and voting […]

Congress Can Save Taxpayers Billions By Using Data Science to Stop Improper Payments

By DanielSchuman April 7, 2020 4 min read

By Maggi Molina and Dan Lips Congress faces major challenges in 2020—including the Coronavirus pandemic and addressing its significant disruptions to our way of life. With the Congressional Budget Office already forecasting trillion dollar federal deficits through 2030, lawmakers may have less flexibility to authorize new spending to address these problems. One way for Congress to improve […]

Forecast for March 16, 2020.

By DanielSchuman March 16, 2020 12 min read

TOP LINE Congress is open for business, but for how long? The Capitol Complex and Library of Congress are not allowing visitors through April 1st, although there are some loopholes for business visitors. The House put out telework guidance for offices — but no uniform telework requirement — and went into its district work period; the Senate cancelled its district work […]

What Items are Due in the Modernization Committee Resolution?

By DanielSchuman March 13, 2020 12 min read

Last Tuesday, the House took a great step towards making the people’s chamber more efficient and responsive with the passage of a resolution (H.Res 756) adopting modernization recommendations of the Fix Congress Committee.  The resolution contains five titles: (1) streamlining and reorganizing human resources; (2) improving orientation for members-elect and providing improved continuing education opportunities […]

House Passes Modernization Committee Resolution

By DanielSchuman March 11, 2020 2 min read

Yesterday, the House overwhelmingly passed H.Res 756, the bipartisan resolution voted unanimously out of the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress (SCOMC). The resolution includes 29 recommendations that aim to make Congress more effective, efficient and transparent. Some of these recommendations include taking critical steps to improve staff retention and diversity, updating House technology […]