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Congressional Security, Continuity and Resiliency, Ethics and Influence, Modernization, First Branch Forecast, Blog posts

Forecast For November 2, 2020.

By DanielSchuman November 2, 2020 13 min read

THE TOP LINE With so much attention on what will happen when voting wraps up tomorrow, our little newsletter will stay focused on what comes next. (But we will cover implications for Congress if, as Axios suggests is already in the works, Pres. Trump prematurely claims victory and tries to undermine vote counting.) Money problems. Sen. […]

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Accountability and Oversight, Appropriations, Congressional Workplace Fairness and Inclusion, Continuity and Resiliency, Ethics and Influence, Rules, Uncategorized, Blog posts

Forecast for October 5, 2020.

By DanielSchuman October 5, 2020 12 min read

THE TOP LINE This weekend has been insane. I hope you’re staying safe. Here’s some of what’s inside: • Coronavirus and the Supreme Court: what a 47-47 Senate means for the Barrett nomination. • How to protect Congress, its staff, the press, and everyone else. • The House Rules Committee heard ideas on how to fix Congress — what […]

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

Forecast for August 10, 2020.

By DanielSchuman August 10, 2020 8 min read

THE TOP LINE The House and Senate are basically out — with a skeleton crew staying in DC until a Coronavirus deal is struck or they give up. Members have been told they have 24-hours notice to return for a vote. Talks have apparently failed; this weekend the president took executive actions of dubious utility and questionable legality in an […]

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

Forecast for May 26, 2020

By DanielSchuman May 26, 2020 11 min read

THE TOP LINE The Senate is out for Memorial Day recess; the House will be in for votes tomorrow and Thursday. (Yes, today is Tuesday. Welcome back.) Speaker Pelosi triggered a 45-day emergency period for remote committee and floor deliberations on May 20th; we calculate the end-date as July 4th, unless it is extended. Members can opt to vote by […]

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

Forecast for May 18, 2020

By DanielSchuman May 18, 2020 16 min read

What a week. On Friday, the House adopted a remote voting resolution (H. Res. 965) that provides for proxy voting on the floor, remote committee hearings, and creates a pathway for remote voting on the floor and remote mark-ups in committees. In other words, the House can function for the foreseeable future despite the COVID-19 […]

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

Forecast for March 9, 2020.

By DanielSchuman March 9, 2020 11 min read

TOP LINE There’s more news than can fit in our little newsletter. The House Rules Committee did its part to encourage the Article I Renaissance (to steal a phrase from Lorelei Kelly) with a nearly four-hour hearing spiced with thoughtful expert testimony examining how Congress’ role has been diminished over decades and how to reassert congressional authority. (How, […]

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Appropriations, Rules, First Branch Forecast, Blog posts

Forecast for February 25, 2020.

By DanielSchuman February 25, 2020 4 min read

We’ve been busy writing reports and appropriations requests, so welcome to an abbreviated and belated First Branch Forecast. IN BRIEF House Rules are a way for lawmakers to set priorities & implement reforms. We tracked the status of reforms in the House Rules package: see the results. Approps season is in full swing. Roll Call has a draft House […]

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

Forecast for January 21, 2020.

By DanielSchuman January 21, 2020 12 min read

House Members are in their districts this week but the Senate is in for impeachment trial proceedings, which start today. Senators are the deciders, but they are not jurors. Before we start, it’s worth rereading MLK’s letter from a Birmingham jail. I found this section resonant: “I have tried to make clear that it is wrong to use immoral means […]

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

Forecast for December 23, 2019

By DanielSchuman December 23, 2019 14 min read

Happy Holidays Everyone. 2019 has been a year like no other. Thank you for staying with us throughout it all. We’re going to take a week off and will be back in the new year. Go easy on us for this week’s newsletter. 🙂

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

Forecast for December 16, 2019

By DanielSchuman December 16, 2019 12 min read

TOP LINE It’s your jam. For weeks, we’ve been gearing up for leadership to jam members with tons of major votes as they head out the door. This week we will see at least two appropriations minibuses (likely Tuesday in the House), impeachment (Wednesday in the House), USCMA (i.e. NAFTA v2, likely on Thursday), a long […]

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

Forecast for September 16, 2019.

By DanielSchuman September 16, 2019 9 min read

IN BRIEF We’re in for another busy week and this week’s First Branch Forecast is more wonky than usual. Here are the highlights: • Senate appropriators allocated less money for leg branch than their House counterparts, setting up the need to reconcile funding levels. The process in the Senate was unusually partisan. • Constitution Day […]

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Accountability and Oversight, First Branch Forecast, Blog posts

Forecast for September 3, 2019.

By DanielSchuman September 3, 2019 4 min read

It’s been a quiet week in Woebegone, D.C., our fair city. Uh, nope. It was a dark and stormy night. Nooooooooo. It was a bright cold day in September, and the clocks were striking thirteen. Ah, that feels right. Welcome to the First Branch Forecast. CONGRESS IN BRIEF More members announced their retirements, including Sen. Isakson and […]

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