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First Branch Forecast for April 11, 2022: Fox on Stocks

By DanielSchuman April 11, 2022 28 min read

TOP LINE This week. The House and Senate are in recess for two weeks and not a moment too soon, with many Members of Congress reporting they’ve tested positive for COVID-19 and, we suspect, many others failing to make a public announcement. Mandatory mask wearing should return to the halls of Congress, positive tests should be recorded and […]

Tags: Government Accountability Office, Staff Pay, Staff Clearances, Congressional Unionization, Foreign Lobbying, House Ethics Committee, US Capitol Police, SCOTUS, PRESS Act, Earmarks, Budget Justifications, Office of Congressional Workplace Rights, Cybersecurity

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

First Branch Forecast: ModCom, PODA, PACER, + USCP 12/13/2021

By DanielSchuman December 13, 2021 19 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 Bonus week. The Senate is in today; the House is in tomorrow, with the ominous last vote predicted at “???” We’ll see both chambers vote to raise the vestigial debt ceiling […]

Tags: Congressional Research Service, Freedom of Information Act, Staff Clearances, Foreign Lobbying, US Capitol Police, NDAA

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

First Branch Forecast: Top lines, bottom lines, effective oversight, and legislative nirvana (Nov. 8, 2021)

By DanielSchuman November 8, 2021 10 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 OOO. The Senate is in recess until the week of November 15th; no floor votes are scheduled in the House until the week of the 15th, although there are a few committee […]

Tags: Foreign Lobbying, Transparency, Office of Congressional Workplace Rights

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

Forecast for October 25, 2021

By DanielSchuman October 25, 2021 17 min read

Welcome‌ ‌to‌ ‌the‌ ‌First‌ ‌Branch‌ ‌Forecast,‌ ‌your‌ ‌regular‌ ‌look‌ ‌into‌ ‌the‌ ‌Legislative‌ ‌branch‌ ‌and‌ ‌government‌ ‌transparency.‌ ‌Tell ‌your‌ ‌friends‌ ‌to‌ subscribe. WE NEED YOUR HELP Many First Branch Forecast readers were unsubscribed from our newsletter for technical reasons that have nothing to do with us. The upshot: hundreds of people lost their subscriptions; many others had our emails go […]

Tags: Library of Congress, Foreign Lobbying, January 6, Leg Support Agencies, Whistleblower Protections

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

Forecast for October 4, 2021

By DanielSchuman October 4, 2021 17 min read

Welcome to the First Branch Forecast, your regular look into the Legislative branch and government transparency. Subscribe here. Congress passed the stopgap funding bill on September 30, temporarily averting a government shutdown. While in theory there will be no House floor votes until the 19th and the next two weeks are committee work weeks, with the debt […]

Tags: Office of Legal Counsel, Congressional Research Service, Inspector General, Government Accountability Office, Foreign Lobbying, debt limit, Leg Support Agencies

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

Forecast for September 20, 2021

By DanielSchuman September 20, 2021 15 min read

Welcome to the First Branch Forecast, your regular look into the Legislative branch and government transparency. Subscribe here. THE TOP LINE The upcoming 10 days are going to be crazy, but the tick-tock is adequately covered by other newsletters so you don’t need it from us. Here is this week’s House floor calendar, the Senate floor schedule, the combined committee […]

Tags: Foreign Lobbying, Office of Congressional Ethics, US Capitol Police, January 6, debt limit, NDAA, Whistleblower Protections

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

Forecast for March 8, 2021

By DanielSchuman March 8, 2021 24 min read

Welcome to the First Branch Forecast, your weekly look into the Legislative branch and government transparency. (Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe here.) THE TOP LINE General Honoré will brief Congress today in three closed meetings on his “Capitol Security Review” that was conducted out of public view over the last six weeks. The NYT published a […]

Tags: Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress, Freedom of Information Act, Staff Pay, Foreign Lobbying, Office of Congressional Ethics, US Capitol Police, January 6, Political Violence, War Powers

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

Forecast for December 21, 2020

By DanielSchuman December 21, 2020 23 min read

THE TOP LINE You gotta be kidding. We prep this newsletter during the week and finalize it over the weekend. Alas, there’s no way we could possibly evaluate what is in the appropriations + COVID bill(s) for you — and there’s no way most Members of Congress could know what they’re voting on, either. It […]

Tags: Foreign Lobbying, Proxy Voting, Schedule F

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

Forecast for June 8, 2020

By DanielSchuman June 8, 2020 16 min read

THE TOP LINE Police reform takes center stage. Widespread outrage over the murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, combined with dozens of videos of police attacking non-violent demonstrators, the use of unidentified internal security forces to police DC streets, and more than 140 police attacks on the press have elevated public pressure on Congress to address systemic police misconduct. […]

Tags: Inspector General, PLUM Act, Foreign Lobbying, US Capitol Police, Surveillance, Legislation, NDAA, Proxy Voting

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

Forecast for April 20, 2020

By DanielSchuman April 19, 2020 13 min read

TOP LINE The House inches forward on remote deliberations. Speaker Pelosi belatedly flipped her position and now supports a very limited form of remote voting, although it remains to be seen whether she will support restarting the committees and allowing remote deliberations on the floor — and whether she needs to bring members back to […]

Tags: Remote Voting, Foreign Lobbying, Leg Support Agencies, Proxy Voting

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

Forecast For February 10, 2020.

By DanielSchuman February 10, 2020 8 min read

ON YOUR RADAR Shedding light on the Justice Department’s OLC Opinions is the topic of today’s Transparency Caucus briefing, set for 2pm in 1310 Longworth. RSVP to Hannah.Mansbach@mail.house.gov. Here’s why we think OLC opinion transparency is important plus a refresher on legislative efforts concerning OLC opinions. Also, read Mike Stern’s latest on OLC. Oversight hearings […]

Tags: Office of Legal Counsel, Congressional Research Service, Staff Clearances, Foreign Lobbying, US Capitol Police, Earmarks, Science & Tech, Leg Support Agencies, Budget, Political Violence, War Powers

Accountability and Oversight, Appropriations, Ethics and Influence, First Branch Forecast, Blog posts

Forecast for January 13, 2020.

By DanielSchuman January 13, 2020 8 min read

THE TOP LINE 8 House Dems voted to cede Congress’s constitutional role in matters of war and peace by voting ‘No’ on the House war powers resolution while Rep. Amash plus GOP Reps. Gaetz, Massie, and Rooney voted ‘Yes’ to protect our system of checks-and-balances. Notable, in addition to the vast majority of Republicans who likely would have voted differently […]

Tags: Office of Legal Counsel, Foreign Lobbying, Budget, War Powers

Tag: Foreign Lobbying

First Branch Forecast for April 11, 2022: Fox on Stocks

First Branch Forecast: ModCom, PODA, PACER, + USCP 12/13/2021

First Branch Forecast: Top lines, bottom lines, effective oversight, and legislative nirvana (Nov. 8, 2021)

Forecast for October 25, 2021

Forecast for October 4, 2021

Forecast for September 20, 2021

Forecast for March 8, 2021

Forecast for December 21, 2020

Forecast for June 8, 2020

Forecast for April 20, 2020

Forecast For February 10, 2020.

Forecast for January 13, 2020.

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