Tag: Legislation

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

Forecast for July 16, 2018. Library of Congress Plan for Publishing CRS Reports Falls Short.

By DanielSchuman July 16, 2018 9 min read

THE TOP LINE The sixth annual Congressional Legislative data and transparency conference, which took place this past week, was a big success. the hits: the Clerk’s office unveiled Ask Alexa for legislative info (and requested ideas for additional inquiries); GPO revealed an API for almost-all info on govinfo; GPO launched the Legislative Innovation Hub website to support collaboration on transparency and tech; […]

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Accountability and Oversight, Ethics and Influence, Reports & Analysis

Congressional Transparency Caucus Briefing: Shining a Light on Foreign Lobbying

By DanielSchuman July 13, 2018 2 min read

The Congressional Transparency Caucus will host a briefing on foreign lobbying on July 25th at 2pm in Rayburn 2456. RSVP here. Rep. Mike Quigley will be giving opening remarks. Panelists will include: Carrie Levine, Senior Political Reporter, Project on Public Integrity Lydia Dennett, Investigator, Project on Government Oversight (POGO) Daniel Schuman, policy director, Demand Progress Action Tom […]

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Appropriations, Modernization, Appropriation Tracking, Blog posts, Reports & Analysis

What’s in the Senate Appropriations Committee’s 2019 Leg Branch Approps Bill

By DanielSchuman June 17, 2018 22 min read

On Thursday, the Senate Appropriations Committee unanimously adopted the Legislative Branch Appropriations bill for 2019 (committee bill text, committee report), advancing the measure to the full chamber. The legislation contains provisions concerning the Senate’s ability to do its job, mirroring in some instances provisions contained in the House bill, which was passed by that chamber last week. (As is […]

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Accountability and Oversight, Appropriations, Modernization, Appropriation Tracking, Blog posts, Reports & Analysis

2019 House FSGG Approps Bill and Transparency

By DanielSchuman June 15, 2018 5 min read

On Wednesday, the House Appropriations Committee favorably reported the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act for FY 2019, which contains a few transparency-related measures and a few omissions. (Bill as reported; Committee Report as reported). I’ll address a few of the items: Central website for Congressional Budget Justifications No direct funding for Oversight.Gov DATA […]

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Congressional Workplace Fairness and Inclusion, Ethics and Influence, Blog posts, Reports & Analysis

Recs on the House’s Harassment Bill

By DanielSchuman January 26, 2018 9 min read

In early December, we shared our recommendations on how Congress should address harassment. Since then, the Committee on House Administration has published a draft reform bill — the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 Reform Act — and today we are publishing our recommendations on how that bill should be further strengthened. We expect the underlying legislation will be shortly enacted into law. Members […]

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Accountability and Oversight, Blog posts, Reports & Analysis

Bill Requiring All Reports to Congress Be Published in Online Repository Introduced

By DanielSchuman December 13, 2017 4 min read

The Access to Congressionally Mandated Reports Act was introduced yesterday in the House and Senate, thanks to the tremendous leadership of Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL) and Sens. Ron Portman (R-OH) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN). The bipartisan bill (read it here) requires: all reports to Congress that are required by law to be published online in a central repository, and […]

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Congressional Workplace Fairness and Inclusion, Blog posts, Reports & Analysis

Thoughts on Harassment in Congress and Reform of the Congressional Accountability Act

By DanielSchuman December 7, 2017 7 min read

Today the House of Representatives held its second hearing on the issue of sexual harassment in Congress, focusing on the 1995 Congressional Accountability Act, the law that created the framework through which harassment and other congressional workplace issues are addressed. The House and Senate recently passed resolutions requiring sexual harassment training, and the House is exploring whether […]

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Accountability and Oversight, Advocacy, Blog posts, Reports & Analysis

Drawing a Line on Mass Surveillance: How Congress Must Reform Section 702

By DanielSchuman March 27, 2017 7 min read

On Monday, members of the House Intelligence Committee held an open hearing into Russian involvement in the 2016 presidential election that included a discussion of whether the U.S. government improperly surveilled officials or associates of any campaign. During that hearing, members of both parties favorably referred to Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act, a […]

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Modernization, Blog posts, Reports & Analysis

Rep. Hoyer Speaks on Renewing Faith in Government

By DanielSchuman July 12, 2016 3 min read

Yesterday, House Minority Whip Steny Hower (D-MD) gave an interesting speech on renewing the American people’s faith in government. He ticked off four major areas for reform: campaign finance reform, voting rights, redistricting reform, and government technology. While there’s a lot to digest in his speech, I want to highlight the part that concerns government technology.

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Accountability and Oversight, Blog posts, Reports & Analysis

House Passes Historic FOIA Bill, Obama Expected to Sign

By DanielSchuman June 13, 2016 3 min read

Today the House of Representatives passed the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016, which passed the Senate in March; President Obama indicated through a spokesman he will sign the measure. [Update: President Obama signed it into law on June 30.] The legislation is the second major transparency bill of the Obama administration — the other is the DATA Act, a federal […]

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Blog posts, Reports & Analysis

Washington Post’s Monkey Cage Blog Published an Article Measuring Legislative Effectiveness. It’s Wrong and They Should Withdraw It.

By DanielSchuman April 8, 2016 3 min read

Dear Professor Lazarus: I just read your post on the Washington Post’s Monkey Cage blog, the headline of which declares “Hillary Clinton was a more effective lawmaker than Bernie Sanders.” Respectfully, there is insufficient data to make such a comparison and the conclusion cannot be supported by the available evidence. You should withdraw or amend […]

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Accountability and Oversight, Blog posts, Reports & Analysis

Freedom of Information Bill Passes the Senate

By DanielSchuman March 15, 2016 5 min read

Today the Senate passed a Freedom of Information (FOIA) bill by unanimous consent. The legislation, officially known as the FOIA Improvement Act of 2015, was shepherded through the upper chamber by its original co-sponsors — Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-TX) and Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Ranking Member Patrick Leahy (D-VT). Its passage is a […]

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