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

First Branch Forecast: Police, PODA, and the Courts 12/06/2021

By DanielSchuman December 6, 2021 15 min read

Welcome to the First Branch Forecast, your regular look into the Legislative branch and government transparency. Tell your friends to subscribe. THE TOP LINE This week: the Senate is in today; the House is in on Tuesday. Congress cleared a CR that funds the government through February 18th so this week expect a debt limit vote, NDAA consideration, and […]

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Congressional Security, Blog posts, Reports & Analysis

The Capitol Police Should Issue FOIA-like Regs — Here’s our Model Regs That Show Them How

By DanielSchuman December 6, 2021 2 min read

Today Demand Progress Education Fund released model public records request regulations for the United States Capitol Police Force. If implemented, these regulations would create a FOIA-like process for the Capitol Police, which our multi-year investigation had previously revealed to be particularly secretive.

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

First Branch Forecast: Democratic slippage, court accountability, and the mother of parliaments 11/29/2021

By DanielSchuman November 29, 2021 9 min read

Welcome‌ ‌to‌ ‌the‌ ‌First‌ ‌Branch‌ ‌Forecast,‌ ‌your‌ ‌regular‌ ‌look‌ ‌into‌ ‌the‌ ‌Legislative‌ ‌branch‌ ‌and‌ government ‌transparency.‌ ‌Tell ‌your‌ ‌friends‌ ‌to‌ subscribe. THE TOP LINE Welcome back. The Senate is in today; the House is in on Tuesday, with the Courthouse Ethics and Transparency Act on suspension and further appropriations bills possible. We’re curious about House Oversight’s Wednesday hearing into the Future […]

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

First Branch Forecast: Clearances, Compensation, and Censure 11/22/2021

By DanielSchuman November 22, 2021 4 min read

Welcome‌ ‌to‌ the Thanksgiving-week First‌ ‌Branch‌ ‌Forecast,‌ ‌a quick — abridged, even — ‌look‌ at ‌the‌ ‌Legislative‌ ‌branch‌ ‌and‌ government ‌transparency.‌ ‌Tell ‌your‌ ‌friends‌ ‌to‌ subscribe. THE TOP (AND ONLY) LINE OOO. We know most people are out, so here’s just the highlights — we’ll have a full report next week. Clearances. Each senator can now designate […]

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Accountability and Oversight, Modernization, Uncategorized, Advocacy, Blog posts

Senate Personal Offices Now Allowed a Staffer With TS/SCI Clearance

By DanielSchuman November 16, 2021 3 min read

Every senator will now be able to designate one aide as eligible to apply for a TS/SCI clearance according to an announcement made by Sen. Schumer and reported by Politico. Clearances give staffers the ability to review matters deemed classified by the Executive branch. Senator Murphy is a long-time champion of this change, which had […]

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

First Branch Forecast: Unions, CBO, & Leahy 11/15/2021

By DanielSchuman November 15, 2021 14 min read

Welcome‌ ‌to‌ ‌the‌ ‌First‌ ‌Branch‌ ‌Forecast,‌ ‌your‌ ‌regular‌ ‌look‌ ‌into‌ ‌the‌ ‌Legislative‌ ‌branch‌ ‌and‌ government ‌transparency.‌ ‌Tell ‌your‌ ‌friends‌ ‌to‌ subscribe. THE TOP LINE The House and Senate are back this week, as I’m sure you noticed. — Senate. You’ve probably seen all the commentary on Senator Schumer’s letter on the Senate schedule for the next month or two. Of […]

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

First Branch Forecast: Top lines, bottom lines, effective oversight, and legislative nirvana (Nov. 8, 2021)

By DanielSchuman November 8, 2021 10 min read

Welcome‌ ‌to‌ ‌the‌ ‌First‌ ‌Branch‌ ‌Forecast,‌ ‌your‌ ‌regular‌ ‌look‌ ‌into‌ ‌the‌ ‌Legislative‌ ‌branch‌ ‌and‌ ‌government ‌transparency.‌ ‌Tell ‌your‌ ‌friends‌ ‌to‌ subscribe. THE TOP LINE OOO. The Senate is in recess until the week of November 15th; no floor votes are scheduled in the House until the week of the 15th, although there are a few committee […]

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Modernization, Blog posts, Reports & Analysis

Strengthening Congressional Oversight: A ModCom Hearing

By DanielSchuman November 5, 2021 8 min read

Congressional oversight powers were the focus of a House Modernization Committee hearing this past week. We were impressed because the discussion went past many clichéd, inaccurate observations that are often advanced concerning what’s broken in Congress and moved to diagnosing the impediments to Congress holding the Executive branch to account and making recommendations on fixes. […]

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

First Branch Forecast: Better Later Than Never– What’s In the Approps Bills? (Nov. 2, 2021)

By DanielSchuman November 2, 2021 12 min read

Welcome‌ ‌to‌ ‌the‌ ‌First‌ ‌Branch‌ ‌Forecast,‌ ‌your‌ ‌regular‌ ‌look‌ ‌into‌ ‌the‌ ‌Legislative‌ ‌branch‌ ‌and‌ ‌government ‌ ‌transparency.‌ ‌Tell ‌your‌ ‌friends‌ ‌to‌ subscribe. THE TOP LINE Notable events this week: Strengthening Congressional Oversight Capacity is the focus of a ModCom hearing on Thursday; ACMRA and several IG bills get a HSGAC mark-up on Wednesday; and save the date for next Monday’s lightning […]

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Reports & Analysis

First Reactions to Senate Democrats’ Commerce, Justice, Science FY 2022 Appropriations Subcommittee Bill

By DanielSchuman October 28, 2021 5 min read

On October 18, 2021, the Senate Appropriations Committee Democrats released draft bill text, an explanatory statement, and a subcommittee summary for the Commerce, Justice, and Science appropriations bill. We reviewed the contents and compared the proposed funding to the enacted levels from the last Congress. Senate Democrats’ CJS appropriations bill includes a discretionary funding level […]

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

Forecast for October 25, 2021

By DanielSchuman October 25, 2021 17 min read

Welcome‌ ‌to‌ ‌the‌ ‌First‌ ‌Branch‌ ‌Forecast,‌ ‌your‌ ‌regular‌ ‌look‌ ‌into‌ ‌the‌ ‌Legislative‌ ‌branch‌ ‌and‌ ‌government‌ ‌transparency.‌ ‌Tell ‌your‌ ‌friends‌ ‌to‌ subscribe. WE NEED YOUR HELP Many First Branch Forecast readers were unsubscribed from our newsletter for technical reasons that have nothing to do with us. The upshot: hundreds of people lost their subscriptions; many others had our emails go […]

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Blog posts, Reports & Analysis

Congress’s Policy Support Agencies

By DanielSchuman October 22, 2021 15 min read

How Congress makes sense of the world was the focus of a House Modernization Committee hearing today that honed in on the operations of three support agencies: the Government Accountability Office, the Congressional Research Service, and the Congressional Budget Office. It was one of the most insightful hearings of the 117th Congress. Congress created its […]

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