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

Forecast for February 18, 2020.

By DanielSchuman February 18, 2020 14 min read

ON YOUR RADAR A nice breather. Both the House and Senate are in recess this week. Whistleblower Ombudsman. Congratulations to Shanna Devine, who was just named the House of Representatives’ first Whistleblower Ombudsman. The nonpartisan, independent office, established 14 months ago as part of the House rules package and filled this past week — with bipartisan support […]

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Accountability and Oversight, Congressional Security, Blog posts, Reports & Analysis

Capitol Police Round Up: Week Ending February 13, 2020

By DanielSchuman February 13, 2020 1 min read

For the week ending February 13, 2020, there were 9 Capitol Police incidents reported; 18 individuals arrested. There were 2 traffic related incidents, including 1 invalid permit arrest. Capitol Police arrested 10 individuals for crowding and obstructing the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol Building on Wednesday, February 5th at 1:47 pm.  Here’s how this week’s […]

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Accountability and Oversight, Rules, Blog posts, Reports & Analysis

Coalition Urges House Democratic Caucus to Publish Caucus Rules

By DanielSchuman February 12, 2020 1 min read

Earlier today, a coalition of 15 organizations sent a letter requesting the House Democratic Caucus to publish its current set of Caucus rules.  Similar letters were sent on January 31, 2019, February 7, 2019, and April 10, 2019, requesting the Caucus to publish the rules online. The coalition received a response on February 7, 2019, saying that the issue would […]

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

Forecast For February 10, 2020.

By DanielSchuman February 10, 2020 8 min read

ON YOUR RADAR Shedding light on the Justice Department’s OLC Opinions is the topic of today’s Transparency Caucus briefing, set for 2pm in 1310 Longworth. RSVP to Hannah.Mansbach@mail.house.gov. Here’s why we think OLC opinion transparency is important plus a refresher on legislative efforts concerning OLC opinions. Also, read Mike Stern’s latest on OLC. Oversight hearings […]

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Accountability and Oversight, Congressional Security, Blog posts, Reports & Analysis

The U.S. Capitol Police: What A Year Of Data Tells Us About The Congressional Police Force

By DanielSchuman February 10, 2020 13 min read

Written by Amelia Strauss, Amelia@DemandProgress.org Research and Editing Contributions by Daniel Schuman & Taylor J. Swift Download this report as a PDF here. Download the underlying data as a CSV here. Introduction Congress has a security-force-police-department hybrid, the U.S. Capitol Police (USCP), tasked with the critical mission of protecting the Congress—Members, employees, and visitors—so constitutionally […]

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Accountability and Oversight, Congressional Security, Blog posts, Reports & Analysis

Capitol Police Round Up: Week Ending February 6, 2020

By DanielSchuman February 7, 2020 1 min read

For the week ending February 6, 2020, there were 19 Capitol Police incidents reported; 58 individuals arrested. There were 5 traffic related incidents, including 4 invalid permit arrests. Capitol Police arrested 39 individuals for crowding and obstructing the entrance of the U.S. Capitol Building on Wednesday, January 29th at 2:06 pm.  Here’s how this week’s […]

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Accountability and Oversight, First Branch Forecast, Blog posts, Reports & Analysis

Exempt from FOIA, US legislative support agencies follow uneven transparency standards

By DanielSchuman February 6, 2020 11 min read

Some legislative branch agencies and offices proactively disclose huge amounts of information in a structured data format, disclose what they could not proactively disclose, and follow a FOIA-like process to respond to requests for information. Most do not.

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Accountability and Oversight, Blog posts, Reports & Analysis

A Primer on Congressional Staff Clearances

By DanielSchuman February 5, 2020 1 min read

Today Demand Progress Education Fund and the Project on Government Oversight are pleased to publish a primer on congressional staff clearances. It is the result of several years worth of research. Security clearances govern access to classified information. While members of Congress are entitled to access classified information by virtue of the constitutional offices they […]

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Accountability and Oversight, Advocacy, Blog posts, Reports & Analysis

Coalition Letters Urge House and Senate Committees to Expand Access to CRS Reports.

By DanielSchuman February 4, 2020 1 min read

Earlier today, letters signed by 25 organizations were sent to the Committee on House Administration and the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration urging them to address issues of congressional and public access to CRS reports.  Previously, Congress directed the Library of Congress to public current and archived CRS reports, but many of these reports […]

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Accountability and Oversight, Congressional Workplace Fairness and Inclusion, Ethics and Influence, Modernization, Uncategorized, Blog posts

Forecast For February 3, 2020.

By DanielSchuman February 3, 2020 10 min read

THE TOP LINE Congress’s science & tech policy agency was defunded in the 90s; this week, Harvard’s Ash Center published Zach Graves and my road map to building a modern congressional technology assessment office. (More below) The House moved to reassert congressional war powers authority when it passed two measures that limits the spending of money on war with […]

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Accountability and Oversight, Congressional Security, Blog posts, Reports & Analysis

Capitol Police Round Up: Week Ending January 30, 2020

By DanielSchuman January 31, 2020 1 min read

For the week ending January 30, 2020, there were 13 Capitol Police incidents reported; 22 individuals arrested. There were 10 traffic related incidents, including 1 DUI and 8 invalid permit arrests. Capitol Police arrested someone attempting to enter the Senate Gallery while it was in session on January 22. The individual refused to leave and […]

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

Forecast for January 27, 2020.

By DanielSchuman January 27, 2020 9 min read

THE TOP LINE The “Senate is hiding from all of us,” writes longtime hill reporter Kathy Kiely, who said “the current security scheme appears designed to protect lawmakers from reporters’ questions.” The restrictions on press access, which we oppose, are a black eye on the Senate and a provocation for future restrictions. Care about leg branch funding? We’ve […]

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