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Accountability and Oversight, AI and Emerging Technology, Congressional Workplace Fairness and Inclusion, Modernization, First Branch Forecast, Blog posts

Forecast for October 21, 2019

By DanielSchuman October 21, 2019 10 min read

ELIJAH CUMMINGS Elijah Cummings has died. He rightly has been lauded for his many achievements and common decency; we remember him as a champion for open and accountable government and his tireless efforts to build a more perfect union. He will lie in state in the rotunda on Thursday; his funeral is Friday. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. CONGRESS IN BRIEF The House is in for the next 2 […]

Tags: Government Publishing Office, Congressional Research Service, Diversity and Inclusion, Congressional Data, Legislation

Accountability and Oversight, Appropriations, Congressional Workplace Fairness and Inclusion, Modernization, First Branch Forecast, Blog posts

Forecast for October 7, 2019

By DanielSchuman October 7, 2019 12 min read

TOP LINE The impeachment inquiry is underway — so why don’t members have a sufficiently-cleared staff to help them do their jobs? (They should.) By the way, this Ryan Grimm story on why the Democratic caucus moved towards impeachment is the best one out there. RSVP for the Legislative Data & Transparency Conference, set for Thursday October 17th. Hosted by House Admin in […]

Tags: Office of Legal Counsel, Congressional Research Service, Diversity and Inclusion, Science & Tech

Accountability and Oversight, Blog posts, Reports & Analysis

Sens. Peters and Portman Intro Transparency Bill for Agency Spending Plans

By DanielSchuman October 1, 2019 2 min read

On Friday, Sens. Gary Peters (D-MI) and Rob Portman (R-OH) introduced legislation to make it much easier to find how federal agencies propose to spend federal funds. The Congressional Budget Justification Transparency Act of 2019 (S. 2560) requires all agencies to publish a plain language explanation of their funding proposal — known as a Congressional […]

Tags: Executive Branch, Legislation, Budget

Accountability and Oversight, Advocacy, Blog posts

The OLC SUNLIGHT Act brings much needed transparency to DOJ legal opinions

By DanielSchuman September 28, 2019 2 min read

The OLC SUNLIGHT Act — which would bring desperately needed transparency and accountability to the often secret opinions of the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel — was introduced today. How often are those opinions secret? No one knows, because there’s no publicly or congressionally-available list of all the opinions. The opinions that have […]

Tags: Office of Legal Counsel, Executive Branch, Legislation

Accountability and Oversight, AI and Emerging Technology, Reports & Analysis

Best Wishes for the Constitution Annotated on the Constitution’s 232rd Birthday

By DanielSchuman September 16, 2019 2 min read

232 years ago today, 38 delegates came together to sign the U.S. Constitution. While there’s a lot of fanfare around the founding document, there’s not much noise about its lesser-known, handy companion, the Constitution Annotated (CONAN). Fortunately, Sens. Portman and King released a letter last week making some noise, calling for CONAN to be available […]

Tags: Leg Support Agencies

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

Forecast for September 16, 2019.

By DanielSchuman September 16, 2019 9 min read

IN BRIEF We’re in for another busy week and this week’s First Branch Forecast is more wonky than usual. Here are the highlights: • Senate appropriators allocated less money for leg branch than their House counterparts, setting up the need to reconcile funding levels. The process in the Senate was unusually partisan. • Constitution Day […]

Tags: Leg Support Agencies, Freedom of Information Act

Accountability and Oversight, First Branch Forecast, Blog posts

Forecast for September 3, 2019.

By DanielSchuman September 3, 2019 4 min read

It’s been a quiet week in Woebegone, D.C., our fair city. Uh, nope. It was a dark and stormy night. Nooooooooo. It was a bright cold day in September, and the clocks were striking thirteen. Ah, that feels right. Welcome to the First Branch Forecast. CONGRESS IN BRIEF More members announced their retirements, including Sen. Isakson and […]

Tags: Office of Legal Counsel, Inspector General, Freedom of Information Act, Earmarks

Accountability and Oversight, Reports & Analysis

USASpending Publishes (Some) Budget Requests In A Central Location

By DanielSchuman August 9, 2019 3 min read

Every year federal agencies explain to Congress their requests for funding in a document known as a Congressional Budget Justification (CBJ). Unlike other budget documents, these requests are written to be read and understood by most people. Hundreds of agencies and sub-agencies submit these requests and OMB requires executive branch agencies to publish their CBJs […]

Tags: Executive Branch, Budget, Budget Justifications

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

The Long Arm of the U.S. Capitol Police

By DanielSchuman August 7, 2019 3 min read

The U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) isn’t your standard police department: tasked with keeping Congress safe while maintaining an open environment, USCP is more of a police-force-security-agency hybrid. The agency enjoys wide jurisdiction, but how wide exactly? We contacted the department in June to find out. We requested a map of USCP’s jurisdiction and the agreement […]

Tags: Leg Support Agencies, US Capitol Police

Accountability and Oversight, Rules, First Branch Forecast, Blog posts

Forecast for August 5, 2019.

By DanielSchuman August 5, 2019 3 min read

The Senate and the House are out for recess but we are still in session. AT THE TOP Want to fix Congress? We’re hiring! We’re looking for a policy manager and a policy analyst to focus on strengthening Congress. Please apply or tell your friends! A beta whistleblower portal is live on Oversight.gov; it instructs whistleblowers regarding who to contact to blow the whistle or request […]

Tags: Caucus Rules, Whistleblower Protections

Accountability and Oversight, Ethics and Influence, Blog posts, Reports & Analysis

GPO Watchdog Testimony Raises Concerns About the Agency

By DanielSchuman July 27, 2019 2 min read

The Government Publishing Office’s (GPO) lack of permanent leadership was just one of the major issues raised at this week’s oversight hearing of the GPO Office of the Inspector General. Senate Rules Committee Chairman Roy Blunt kicked off the hearing by voicing concerns over shaky leadership: the agency hasn’t had a permanent director since October […]

Tags: Government Publishing Office, Leg Support Agencies

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

Forecast for July 22, 2019.

By DanielSchuman July 22, 2019 5 min read

The last week before recess is always crazy and this week will be no exception. We apologize for skipping the Forecast over the last two weeks, but we were literally and figuratively underwater. ON THE RADAR Negotiations over appropriations levels and the debt ceiling must result in a long-term agreement, a short term agreement, Congress returning […]

Tags: Legislation, Congressional Data Task Force, debt limit, Office of Congressional Ethics, House Ethics Committee, Access to Congressionally Mandated Reports Act, US Capitol Police

Forecast for October 21, 2019

Forecast for October 7, 2019

Sens. Peters and Portman Intro Transparency Bill for Agency Spending Plans

The OLC SUNLIGHT Act brings much needed transparency to DOJ legal opinions

Best Wishes for the Constitution Annotated on the Constitution’s 232rd Birthday

Forecast for September 16, 2019.

Forecast for September 3, 2019.

USASpending Publishes (Some) Budget Requests In A Central Location

The Long Arm of the U.S. Capitol Police

Forecast for August 5, 2019.

GPO Watchdog Testimony Raises Concerns About the Agency

Forecast for July 22, 2019.

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