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AI and Emerging Technology, Congressional Security, Congressional Workplace Fairness and Inclusion, Ethics and Influence, First Branch Forecast, Blog posts

Forecast for April 15, 2019. First hundred days.

By DanielSchuman April 15, 2019 13 min read

HOUSE OPERATIONS Technology staff hiring faces huge challenges, according to House Clerk Cheryl Johnson and House Sergeant at Arms Paul Irving. At this past week’s House Admin hearing, both agencies said they struggle with hiring and retaining IT personnel, a topic that came up several times. The House officers identified insufficient resources to pay staff, the […]

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

Forecast for April 1, 2019. Every Day Is April’s Fools Day.

By DanielSchuman April 1, 2019 12 min read

ALL ABOUT THE BENJAMIN (FRANKLINS): Last week the House approved H. Res 245, which contains House Admin’s recommendations on how to allot funds amongst all the committees (except approps, which is funded separately). The upshot: flat funding for everyone, and a smaller-than-expected amount for the Fix Congress Committee. We break down the numbers and analyze them here. With an […]

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AI and Emerging Technology, Modernization, First Branch Forecast, Blog posts

Forecast for November 5, 2018. Congressional Tech Gets an Upgrade.

By DanielSchuman November 5, 2018 6 min read

THE TOP LINE It’d be great if Tuesday were a federal holiday. Just saying. While we’re at it, how about ending daylight savings time? Happy Monday from the only congressional newsletter not talking about polling.

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AI and Emerging Technology, Congressional Security, Congressional Workplace Fairness and Inclusion, Ethics and Influence, Rules, First Branch Forecast, Blog posts

Forecast for October 29, 2018. Child Care, Congressional Departures, the CAA, APIs, and Voicemail.

By DanielSchuman October 29, 2018 7 min read

THE TOP LINE Capitol Hill child care centers that prioritize Congressional staff have only 240 spots and a 550 deep wait list, according to a new Demand Progress report. Roll Call’s Katherine Tully-McManus covered efforts to expand availability to serve the 15,000 staffers on Capitol hill; even if expansion plans come to fruition, they would not meet […]

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AI and Emerging Technology, Appropriations, Congressional Security, Ethics and Influence, Modernization, Rules, First Branch Forecast

Forecast for September 24, 2018. Congress’ Staff Capacity Problem, Plus the Library of Congress Started Publishing CRS Reports.

By DanielSchuman September 24, 2018 8 min read

THE TOP LINE Rules reform is the topic of a Congressional Transparency Caucus event on Thursday at 2 in Rayburn 2456 entitled “Playing by the House Rules.” RSVP here. Rep. Quigley will make opening remarks. Panelists include Daniel Schuman, Demand Progress; Meredith McGehee, Issue One; Matt Glassman, GAI at Georgetown; Molly Reynolds, Brookings Institution. For more, we […]

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Accountability and Oversight, AI and Emerging Technology, Modernization, Blog posts, Reports & Analysis

Finally, The Constitution (Annotated) In Your Virtual Pocket

By DanielSchuman September 17, 2018 3 min read

On the 231st anniversary of the delegates to the Constitutional Convention signing the U.S. Constitution, we’re pleased to share the good news that Cornell’s Legal Information Institute (LII) will today publish Congress’s legal treatise that explains how the Supreme Court interprets the Constitution. The treatise, known as the Constitution Annotated, is prepared by the Library of Congress’s […]

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

Forecast for July 30, 2018. Congressional Pay Study, plus Congress’ Official Intranet, DemCom, is New and Improved.

By DanielSchuman July 30, 2018 10 min read

TOP LINE — Appropriations will continue to dominate Congressional attention even as the House goes into recess, with another minibus teed up in the Senate this week and President Trump threatening to shut down the government. The House has scheduled 19 sessions days before the November election; only 11 before the end of the fiscal […]

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AI and Emerging Technology, Modernization, Blog posts, Reports & Analysis

So Long, THOMAS

By DanielSchuman April 28, 2016 6 min read

The Library of Congress announced that the legislative information website THOMAS is scheduled to stop functioning on July 5, with Congress.gov to replace its functionality. This will allow the Library to focus all its energy on Congress.gov instead of having also to maintain a very awkward, 21-year-old website. I’m sure that many news reports will give […]

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Accountability and Oversight, AI and Emerging Technology, Modernization, Blog posts, Reports & Analysis

Congress Can Fix Itself … With A Little Help

By DanielSchuman March 17, 2016 5 min read

Part IV: The Way Forward Towards A Stronger Congress How do we use technology to build congressional capacity to perform its work? In part, the work of the Congressional Data Coalition is powering this virtuous cycle in partnership with Congress. Congress works best with a single entity that represents public stakeholders, and the Congressional Data Coalition is a trusted […]

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AI and Emerging Technology, Modernization, Blog posts, Reports & Analysis

Learning from #Hack4Congress

By DanielSchuman May 21, 2015 4 min read

The Tuesday, May 12 #Hack4Congress awards ceremony at the House of Representatives’ majestic Judiciary Committee hearing room was the culmination of a 6 month long effort to engage technologically savvy members of the public with making Congress more open and efficient. The three winners of congressional data hackathons in Cambridge, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. presented their projects to […]

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AI and Emerging Technology, Modernization, Blog posts, Reports & Analysis

Legislative Project Ideas for Coders and Non-Coders

By DanielSchuman April 25, 2015 3 min read

I thought it would be useful to identify legislative data projects in advance of the House’s annual Legislative Data and Transparency Conference and #Hack4Congress, a congressional hackathon we are co-hosting with our friends the OpenGov Foundation. I have written about some ideas previously, and others are newly published or elaborations. Not all are mine, but I like them all. {Update: a […]

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