Yesterday I sat behind Dr. Carla Hayden as she testified on her pending nomination as Librarian of Congress before the Senate Rules committee. It was a surprisingly emotional moment, as I waited among her friends and family who were so very excited to see an amazing woman nominated for this high honor. Her mother was […]
On Wednesday, the Senate Rules Committee will hear from Dr. Carla Hayden, President Obama’s nominee to serve as the next Librarian of Congress. Last June I described criteria President Obama should use in choosing his nominee.
Today the Government Publishing Office published the House Manual — which contains Rules of the House of Representatives, Jefferson’s Manual, and other important legislative documents — online in a structured data format on GitHub. GPO did so pursuant to direction from the House Rules Committee, which was acting in accordance with the rules package passed at the beginning of the 114th […]
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 […]
Part III: Bootstrapping Congress Into the Digital Age How can Congress muster sufficient resources to properly fund its essential functions in an era of asphyxiating budgets? Unsurprisingly for a 227-year-old institution, congressional operations often are inefficient, expensive, or no longer necessary. There’s not a lot of money there, but there’s enough to invest in greater productivity. Moving to […]
Part II: How Congress Broke Itself How can Congress get out of the mess it finds itself in? The approach I suggest is to provide Members and staff greater tools and resources do to their jobs. This will enable them to think long term and remove their undue reliance on special interests dedicated to the status quo. In […]
Part 1: A Thought Experiment on Our Broken Legislature Imagine astronomers discover a giant asteroid on a collision course for Earth, scheduled to collide in 100 years. It is possible to build the technology to deflect the asteroid if we spend $2 trillion dollars now. What would Congress do? We can guess at the answer. […]
Today Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Representatives Leonard Lance (R-NJ) and Mike Quigley (D-IL) introduced in the House and Senate legislation directing the online publication of Congressional Research Service reports that are available for general congressional access. A coalition of 40 civil society and grassroots organizations, libraries, trade associations, think tanks, and businesses from across […]
Over the last week the issue of public access to non-confidential CRS reports has come into focus. A grassroots effort has sent hundreds of emails from constituents to select Members of Congress over the last two weeks. Transparency organizations and former CRS employees called for public access. A panel of experts met to discuss the […]
Yesterday, the Congressional Transparency Caucus announced it will host a panel discussion on public access to Congressional Research Service reports. The non-confidential reports explain current policy matters before Congress in a thoughtful, comprehensive way, but the reports are not systematically publicly available. The panel is set for Thursday, October 22, at 11 a.m. in room 2103 of the Rayburn House […]
GPO and the Library of Congress Should Collaborate with the Public At a meeting in April, the Government Publishing Office announced its collaboration with the Library of Congress to digitize all bound volumes of the Congressional Record from 1873–1998. The Congressional Record is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress. […]
Today 40 Organizations Wrote to Congress to Let Them Know We live in the information age, but all information is not equal when it comes to policymaking. Our public debates are dominated by talking heads and special interests and heralded by news reports that are brief, superficial, and unrevealing. We need better access to thoughtful discussions […]