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

First Branch Forecast for December 19, 2022: Not O.K.?

By DanielSchuman December 19, 2022 12 min read

TOP LINE The end of this Congress feels like the run up before a high school graduation. Senior leaders are saying goodbye while the next crop waits their turn. Everyone’s rushing to turn in their remaining work, leading to sloppy mistakes. The turnover will lead to something new, but we’re not sure what. This work […]

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Accountability and Oversight, Announcements and Statements, Blog posts, Reports & Analysis

Recs on Making GovInfo More Transparent, Useful, & Accessible

By DanielSchuman November 29, 2022 2 min read

In response to the White House’s announcement of an open government engagement session on increasing federal data access and utility, Demand Progress Education Fund submitted these recommendations for making government information more transparent, useful, and accessible.

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Accountability and Oversight, Advocacy, Announcements, Blog posts

Statement on Senate Judiciary Subcmte Hearing: “Office of Legal Counsel’s Role in Shaping Executive Privilege Doctrine”

By DanielSchuman October 18, 2022 3 min read

Today at 2 PM ET, the Senate Judiciary subcommittee is holding a hearing entitled “The Office of Legal Counsel’s Role in Shaping Executive Privilege Doctrine” with OLC’s Assistant Attorney General Christopher Schroeder as the sole witness.  Given that secrecy is an all-too-common aspect of the OLC’s work, and that its secrecy has at times undermined […]

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

First Branch Forecast for October 17, 2022: Looking Ahead

By DanielSchuman October 17, 2022 16 min read

TOP LINE Abby Livingston has had enough. After carving out a successful career as a Capitol Hill journalist – becoming a one-woman DC bureau for the nonprofit Texas Tribune – she quit. The trigger, she shared last week, was realizing a corridor in the Capitol that had felt like the safest place in the world to […]

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

First Branch Forecast for September 19, 2022: Fixing Congress

By DanielSchuman September 19, 2022 17 min read

TOP LINE The Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress held its final hearing last Wednesday, aptly on how Congress should continue its work. The Committee has issued 177 recommendations over its three-and-a-half year tenure and likely will surpass the 200 mark before its work concludes at the end of this Congress. By its own […]

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

EveryCRSReport Adds Federation of American Scientists CRS Reports

By DanielSchuman September 7, 2022 3 min read

We are pleased to announce that EveryCRSReport now includes all CRS reports published online by the Federation of American Scientists. Steven Aftergood, who led FAS’s efforts on CRS reports for decades, has retired from that role, although he still is active on a number of projects. He gave us permission to add those reports to […]

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

Agencies Get Marching Orders on Congressional Budget Justification Transparency Act

By DanielSchuman September 6, 2022 4 min read

The Congressional Budget Justification Transparency Act, which Demand Progress supported and became law last year, is coming into its own. The law requires (1) the publication of all agency Congressional Justifications on USASpending.org within two weeks of their submission to a house of Congress; (2) CJ publication at a vanity URL on the agency website; […]

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

First Branch Forecast for August 29, 2022: Letter of Note

By DanielSchuman August 29, 2022 5 min read

TOP LINE This week, recess continues. Last week saw two big announcements from the White House: (1) the partial student loan forgiveness program, which incidentally could help 2,000 staffers (or more!) on the hill, and (2) making federally-funded research free and publicly available, which will improve the availability of information for policymaking deliberations. You didn’t ask us, but congressional […]

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

First Branch Forecast for August 22, 2022: The Executive Strikes Back

By DanielSchuman August 22, 2022 12 min read

TOP LINE It’s still recess, with two weeks until the Senate reconvenes and the House has a committee work week. House and Senate Security Manuals are now publicly available thanks to litigation brought by journalist Shawn Musgrave. The House and Senate resisted the effort, brought under a common law right of access, and only ceded ground after it […]

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Accountability and Oversight, Announcements and Statements, Advocacy, Announcements, Blog posts

Statement on passage of the Periodically Listing Updates to Management (PLUM) Act

By DanielSchuman July 18, 2022 2 min read

The House included the Periodically Listing Updates to Management (PLUM) Act as an amendment to the FY 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) passed last week. “In passing the Periodically Listing Updates to Management (PLUM) Act, Congress just took an important step to increase transparency of political appointees, who are among the most senior leaders […]

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

First Branch Forecast for June 6, 2022: Congress heats up

By DanielSchuman June 6, 2022 8 min read

TOP LINE This week. We promised we’d take the week off from the newsletter, but we just can’t quit you. Please note that House subcommittee markups for the NDAA are happening this week and appropriations hearings are continuing. (See our appropriations tracker for the latest deadlines.) We understand the January 6th Committee will hold the first hearing in a series […]

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

First Branch Forecast for May 31, 2022: Capture the Flag

By DanielSchuman May 31, 2022 12 min read

TOP LINE  This week. Happy Memorial Day recess—both chambers are out this week, giving us (and hopefully you, too) a chance to take a break, or at least slow down. Approps. We were expecting Senate Leg branch approps hearing with the USCP, GAO, and Library of Congress last week, but it was postponed. Stay tuned.  […]

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