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

First Branch Forecast for 6/26/23 – Teeing Up a Busy July

By DanielSchuman June 26, 2023 15 min read

TOP LINE This week Congress starts its two-week Independence Day holiday. We’re hoping to take next week off from writing our little newsletter, but we’ll be back. Among the highlights from this past week: Senate Appropriators adopted 302(b) allocations that are very different from the House’s untenable numbers, but with many Republican defections the National […]

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

First Branch Forecast for May 8, 2023: Food and Housing

By DanielSchuman May 8, 2023 13 min read

TOP LINE Lawmakers assumed that income tax revenue coming in during April would give them a few more months to posture before the debt default roiled the markets. The time to implement a solution to the debt limit, however, was back in the lame duck session of the last Congress. Unfortunately, Senator Joe Manchin, along […]

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

First Branch Forecast for March 20, 2023: Keep the MRA Funded

By DanielSchuman March 20, 2023 16 min read

TOP LINE The contrast of fast and slow continues to stand out to us in this new Congress. The House is prepping its appropriations work with breakneck speed, while the Senate will stretch its process out at a more leisurely pace. With only themselves to respond to the baking crisis that emerged suddenly, Senators chose […]

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AI and Emerging Technology, Appropriations, Congressional Security, Ethics and Influence, First Branch Forecast, Blog posts

First Branch Forecast for February 27, 2023: Videodome

By DanielSchuman February 27, 2023 13 min read

TOP LINE Speaker Kevin McCarthy interjected himself into the debate over US Capitol Police openness and transparency in a major way by releasing the entirety of video recorded by its cameras on January 6, 2021 to Tucker Carlson at Fox News. The how and why of this decision are going to distract from the what […]

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

First Branch Forecast for Oct. 31, 2022: Improving Congressional Tech

By DanielSchuman October 31, 2022 11 min read

Top Line 1/ Speaker Pelosi’s husband was violently assaulted in their San Francisco residence. • At the time of writing, we do not know the motives of the assailant. However, it would not be surprising if the ultimate aim was to harm Speaker Pelosi. In this newsletter we have previously discussed the concept of stochastic […]

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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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Modernization, Rules, First Branch Forecast, Blog posts

First Branch Forecast for September 26, 2022: Rules Power Play

By DanielSchuman September 26, 2022 17 min read

TOP LINE Where will power reside in the next Congress? And what systems of control will delegate and manage that power? These are core questions to understanding the legislative branch at any time, of course. But the answers to those questions may be shifting, perhaps faster than anticipated and in ways that fundamentally change our […]

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Continuity and Resiliency, Modernization, First Branch Forecast, Blog posts

First Branch Forecast for September 13, 2022: And We’re Back

By DanielSchuman September 12, 2022 11 min read

TOP LINE A pre-midterm cram session is emerging as the Senate tries to squeeze in votes on same-sex marrige protections, reforms to the Electoral Count Act, insulin pricing, energy permitting reform, FDA user fees…oh, and avoiding a government shutdown Oct. 1. So here we are, less than two months before a very consequential midterm election […]

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Appropriations, Congressional Workplace Fairness and Inclusion, Modernization, Appropriation Tracking, First Branch Forecast, Blog posts

First Branch Forecast for June 27, 2022: Apropos everything

By DanielSchuman June 27, 2022 16 min read

TOP LINE What to expect from Congress this week? The House is holding a committee work week before joining the Senate, which is already out on recess. They will return the week of July 11th. We are writing this newsletter before 5pm on Friday, so you’ll have to check the House committee calendar for upcoming hearings, but we know […]

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

First Branch Forecast for June 21, 2022

By DanielSchuman June 21, 2022 21 min read

TOP LINE This week. The House is in today and so is the Senate. After this week, both chambers will take a break from floor legislative activities until July 11th — according to the House floor calendar and Senate floor calendar — although the House will hold a committee work week next week. Afterward, the House has scheduled only 3 weeks of […]

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

First Branch Forecast for March 7, 2022

By DanielSchuman March 7, 2022 17 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 The House and Senate are both in session today. This week Congress will attempt to pass the spending omnibus — which may include emergency supplementals for Ukraine and Covid-19 — before government funding expires Friday. We’re keeping our eyes […]

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