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Congressional Workplace Fairness and Inclusion, Continuity and Resiliency, Ethics and Influence, First Branch Forecast, Blog posts

First Branch Forecast for February 7, 2022: Legitimate political discourse

By DanielSchuman February 7, 2022 10 min read

Welcome‌ ‌to‌ ‌the‌ ‌First‌ ‌Branch‌ ‌Forecast,‌ ‌your‌ ‌regular‌ ‌look‌ ‌into‌ ‌the‌ ‌Legislative‌ ‌branch‌ ‌and‌ government ‌transparency.‌ ‌Tell ‌your‌ ‌friends‌ ‌to‌ subscribe. TOP LINE This week. The House is scheduled to be in from Monday to Wednesday, with a light legislative calendar that might get heavier to address the FY 2022 appropriations bill and unionization in the House. After […]

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

First Branch Forecast for January 31, 2022: Proxy Voting FTW

By DanielSchuman January 31, 2022 12 min read

Welcome‌ ‌to‌ ‌the‌ ‌First‌ ‌Branch‌ ‌Forecast,‌ ‌your‌ ‌regular‌ ‌look‌ ‌into‌ ‌the‌ ‌Legislative‌ ‌branch‌ ‌and‌ government ‌transparency.‌ ‌Tell ‌your‌ ‌friends‌ ‌to‌ subscribe. This week. The Senate is back today; the House is back tomorrow. Appropriations run out on February 18th, so expect a short CR, an omnibus bill, or a shutdown. Looking at scheduled committee proceedings, we see separate Tuesday HSGAC […]

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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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Congressional Security, Congressional Workplace Fairness and Inclusion, Continuity and Resiliency, Ethics and Influence, First Branch Forecast, Blog posts

Forecast for September 13, 2021

By DanielSchuman September 13, 2021 13 min read

Welcome to the First Branch Forecast, your regular look into the Legislative branch and government transparency. Subscribe here. THE TOP LINE The fence is (almost certainly) coming back around the Capitol building and Supreme Court in anticipation of an event featuring Trump insurrectionists and their allies. Representatives of white supremacist groups who were promoting the “rally,” such as the Proud Boys […]

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

Forecast for August 23, 2021

By DanielSchuman August 23, 2021 14 min read

Welcome to the First Branch Forecast, your regular look into the Legislative branch and government transparency. Subscribe here. THE TOP LINE They’re back? The House of Representatives returns for two days to pass a Budget resolution, a voting rights bill, and 12 suspension bills (including, we hope, the Congressional Budget Justification Transparency Act.) The Senate does not return until […]

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

Forecast for August 9, 2021

By DanielSchuman August 9, 2021 14 min read

Welcome to the First Branch Forecast, your weekly look into the Legislative branch and government transparency. Subscribe here. A preview of coming distractions: if Congress takes a break, we may take one, too. Wouldn’t that be nice. THE TOP LINE Members of Congress can force policy change without moving a bill. Rep. Bush made that clear last week in […]

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Accountability and Oversight, Appropriations, Congressional Security, Congressional Workplace Fairness and Inclusion, Continuity and Resiliency, Ethics and Influence, First Branch Forecast, Blog posts

Forecast for July 6, 2021

By DanielSchuman July 6, 2021 18 min read

Welcome to the First Branch Forecast, your weekly look into the Legislative branch and government transparency. Subscribe here. We hope you had a wonderful July 4th weekend. THE TOP LINE House Appropriations favorably reported six of the twelve spending bills, including a Legislative Branch bill and report that included desperately and long overdue investments in the Legislative Branch, […]

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

Forecast for June 21, 2021

By DanielSchuman June 21, 2021 24 min read

Welcome to the First Branch Forecast, your weekly look into the Legislative branch and government transparency. Subscribe here. We hope you had a good Juneteenth holiday weekend. The Senate is back on Monday and the House is back on Tuesday. THE TOP LINE Follow the money. The House deemed top line discretionary spending as part of an unrelated bill […]

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Continuity and Resiliency, Announcements

Senate Must Address Its Continuity in an Emergency

By DanielSchuman June 14, 2021 6 min read

Bipartisan Coalition Supports Efforts To Keep the Senate Operational in an Emergency FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 14, 2021 CONTACT: Daniel Schuman, policy director, Demand Progress, daniel@demandprogress.org, 240-237-3930 Washington, DC — The Senate must act to ensure its continuity in a national crisis, according to a bipartisan coalition of 18 organizations and six congressional experts in […]

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

Forecast for June 14, 2021

By DanielSchuman June 14, 2021 28 min read

Welcome to the First Branch Forecast, your weekly look into the Legislative branch and government transparency. Subscribe here. THE TOP LINE Justice Department surveillance. The Justice Department surveilled at least two Members of the House Intelligence Committee, some committee staff, and family members in 2017-8 as part of a  “leaks” investigation. Apple and an unidentified Information Service […]

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Accountability and Oversight, AI and Emerging Technology, Appropriations, Congressional Security, Continuity and Resiliency, Ethics and Influence, Modernization, Appropriation Tracking, First Branch Forecast, Blog posts

Forecast for June 1, 2021.

By DanielSchuman June 1, 2021 21 min read

Bring on the out-of-office responses and welcome to this recess edition of the First Branch Forecast, where we look into the Legislative branch and government transparency. Now, you’ll have time enough at last to encourage your colleagues to subscribe here. TOP LINE The forgotten art of congressional oversight is the topic of a fantastic, extensive article by the American Prospect’s […]

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Accountability and Oversight, Appropriations, Congressional Security, Congressional Workplace Fairness and Inclusion, Continuity and Resiliency, Ethics and Influence, Appropriation Tracking, First Branch Forecast, Blog posts

Forecast for May 24, 2021

By DanielSchuman May 24, 2021 19 min read

Welcome to the First Branch Forecast, your weekly look into the Legislative branch and government transparency. Encourage your colleagues to subscribe here. TOP LINE The House is holding a committee work week and the Senate is in. Next week, both chambers will be out to coincide with the Memorial Day holiday. The January 6th Commission bill (H.R. […]

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