News

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

Forecast for August 4, 2020.

By DanielSchuman August 4, 2020 7 min read

THE TOP LINE Safety first? Rep. Gohmert’s positive COVID-19 test sparked outrage across the Hill, prompting a belated mask mandate in the House, inaction (what else!?!) in the Senate, a possible member-to-member transmission, and countless staffers and aides telling reporters about a backlash from senior staff/Members for wearing masks in their offices or requesting to work remotely. We wrote a letter on March 12 to Congress […]

Tags: House Ethics Committee, Office of Congressional Ethics, MRA, Proxy Voting

Modernization, Blog posts, Reports & Analysis

August Update: What Items are Due in the Modernization Committee Resolution?

By DanielSchuman August 3, 2020 8 min read

On March 10th, which seems like a lifetime ago, the House passed H.Res 756, adopting modernization recommendations of the Fix Congress Committee. The resolution included 29 recommendations that were unanimously reported by the Modernization Committee last year. The resolution calls on legislative support offices to start a number of projects and report back on how […]

Appropriations, Ethics and Influence, Modernization, First Branch Forecast, Blog posts

Forecast for July 27, 2020

By DanielSchuman July 27, 2020 12 min read

THE TOP LINE CODA — Covid, Defense, and Approps — are the “must pass” summer blockbuster legislation (we miss movies) that lurched forward in both chambers. Sort of. But how does it end? We’re betting there will be sequels. 11 of the 12 appropriations bills passed or are scheduled for a vote in the House. The Senate […]

Tags: Office of Legal Counsel, PLUM Act, Government Accountability Office, Office of Congressional Ethics, NDAA, Political Violence

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

House CJS Appropriations Report Calls for Greater Transparency of Office of Legal Counsel Opinions

By DanielSchuman July 24, 2020 5 min read

The Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) serves as legal advisor to the president and executive branch agencies. OLC issues legal opinions and often acts as the final authority on how laws are to be interpreted. However, these legal opinions and how they are analyzed are often withheld from Congress and the public. […]

Tags: Office of Legal Counsel, Leg Support Agencies

Appropriations, Appropriation Tracking, Blog posts, Reports & Analysis

116th Congress Update: How Senate Committees Get Their Money

By DanielSchuman July 23, 2020 6 min read

(This is an update of a 2019 article on how Senate Committees are funded. It has been updated for the 116th Congress.) UPDATED TRENDS IN SENATE COMMITTEE FUNDING How do Senate committees get their funding and how has funding changed over the last 25 years? We crunched the numbers for you and here are the […]

Tags: Congressional Ops

Appropriations, Blog posts, Reports & Analysis

116th Congress Update: How House Committees Get Their Money

By DanielSchuman July 23, 2020 5 min read

(This is an update of a 2019 article on how House Committees are funded. It has been updated for the 116th Congress.) Committee funding in the House of Representatives is accomplished through a somewhat quirky process. Appropriators in the House Legislative Branch Appropriations Committee set a top dollar amount for the committees — they appropriate […]

Tags: Congressional Ops

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

Who Steers the Ship? An Examination of House Steering and Policy Committee Membership

By DanielSchuman July 20, 2020 7 min read

House Democrats and Republicans use internal party committees to control major aspects of the legislative process, including choosing who gets to serve on legislative committees. As we all know, personnel is policy. Under the House rules, each party decides committee assignments for its members. As a result, the steering and policy committees are the scene […]

Tags: Congressional Ops, Leadership

Accountability and Oversight, Appropriations, Continuity and Resiliency, Ethics and Influence, Modernization, Rules, First Branch Forecast, Blog posts

Forecast for July 20, 2020

By DanielSchuman July 20, 2020 15 min read

THE TOP LINE The House Appropriations Committee finished its deliberations this past week, favorably reporting bills from its 12 subcommittees and marking the end of an era with Rep. Lowey’s forthcoming retirement as Chair. As we noted last week, this included much needed investments in the Legislative Branch, reclaiming Congress’ power of the purse, and increased transparency […]

Tags: Office of Legal Counsel, PLUM Act, SCOTUS, Legislation, NDAA, Budget Justifications, Caucus Rules, Proxy Voting, War Powers, Access to Court Proceedings

Modernization, Blog posts, Reports & Analysis

Update: What Items are Due in the Modernization Committee Resolution?

By DanielSchuman July 17, 2020 6 min read

On March 10th, the House passed H.Res 756, adopting modernization recommendations of the Fix Congress Committee. The resolution included 29 recommendations that were unanimously reported by the Modernization Committee last year. The resolution calls on legislative support offices to start a number of projects and report back on how to implement others. The resolution contains […]

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

Forecast for July 13, 2020.

By DanielSchuman July 13, 2020 16 min read

THE TOP LINECongress may finally have begun investing in itself — House appropriators favorably reported a 5% increase in funding for the Legislative Branch. That’s half of the 10% increase sought by good government types (like us), and while Congress is still significantly below its funding level from a decade again, we are starting to dig out of […]

Tags: Government Accountability Office, Diversity and Inclusion, Office of Congressional Ethics, US Capitol Police, NDAA, Caucus Rules

Appropriations, Congressional Workplace Fairness and Inclusion, Ethics and Influence, Modernization, First Branch Forecast, Blog posts

Forecast for July 6, 2020.

By DanielSchuman July 6, 2020 18 min read

Welcome back. This week will be busy in the House, so let’s go! THE TOP LINE The House Appropriations subcommittees are holding mark-ups all week, plus a Thursday vote on the 302(b) allocations and full committee markups on Thursday and Friday. The full schedule is at the bottom of this email. • One notable change: for the […]

Tags: Government Accountability Office, Diversity and Inclusion, Office of Congressional Ethics, NDAA, Proxy Voting

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

Forecast for June 29, 2020

By DanielSchuman June 29, 2020 12 min read

THE TOP LINE Musical chairs. The House of Representatives will have new committee chairs in the 117th Congress, but how will they be chosen? That’s a difficult enough question that we dig into it below. NDAA. House Armed Services will markup the NDAA on Wednesday; on Monday, the Senate will resume consideration of the motion to […]

Tags: Inspector General, Government Accountability Office, Legislation, NDAA, Caucus Rules, Proxy Voting

Forecast for August 4, 2020.

August Update: What Items are Due in the Modernization Committee Resolution?

Forecast for July 27, 2020

House CJS Appropriations Report Calls for Greater Transparency of Office of Legal Counsel Opinions

116th Congress Update: How Senate Committees Get Their Money

116th Congress Update: How House Committees Get Their Money

Who Steers the Ship? An Examination of House Steering and Policy Committee Membership

Forecast for July 20, 2020

Update: What Items are Due in the Modernization Committee Resolution?

Forecast for July 13, 2020.

Forecast for July 6, 2020.

Forecast for June 29, 2020

Media Center

Contact Us

Subscribe to first branch forecast