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Forecast for July 20, 2020

By DanielSchuman July 20, 2020 15 min read

THE TOP LINE The House Appropriations Committee finished its deliberations this past week, favorably reporting bills from its 12 subcommittees and marking the end of an era with Rep. Lowey’s forthcoming retirement as Chair. As we noted last week, this included much needed investments in the Legislative Branch, reclaiming Congress’ power of the purse, and increased transparency […]

Tags: Proxy Voting, Access to Court Proceedings, Caucus Rules, Budget Justifications, NDAA, Legislation, SCOTUS, PLUM Act, Office of Legal Counsel, War Powers

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

Forecast for May 11, 2020

By DanielSchuman May 11, 2020 16 min read

Will the House come back this week? Will Congress turn on remote deliberations? Is it really 142 days from the end of the fiscal year? There are lots of good questions (et tu, Senate) that we address this week. If we’ve missed something, ask us on Wednesday at 5pm at this virtual panel discussion on Continuity of […]

Tags: SCOTUS, Office of Legal Counsel, US Capitol Police, Surveillance, Proxy Voting, War Powers, Access to Court Proceedings

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

Forecast for February 18, 2020.

By DanielSchuman February 18, 2020 14 min read

ON YOUR RADAR A nice breather. Both the House and Senate are in recess this week. Whistleblower Ombudsman. Congratulations to Shanna Devine, who was just named the House of Representatives’ first Whistleblower Ombudsman. The nonpartisan, independent office, established 14 months ago as part of the House rules package and filled this past week — with bipartisan support […]

Tags: Office of Legal Counsel, Government Accountability Office, Department of Justice, US Capitol Police, Science & Tech, Leg Support Agencies, Office of Congressional Workplace Rights, Caucus Rules, Whistleblower Protections, War Powers

2.11.20

Create Accountability for DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel Opinions

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, Modernization, Rules, Appropriation Tracking, First Branch Forecast, Blog posts

Forecast for January 27, 2020.

By DanielSchuman January 27, 2020 9 min read

THE TOP LINE The “Senate is hiding from all of us,” writes longtime hill reporter Kathy Kiely, who said “the current security scheme appears designed to protect lawmakers from reporters’ questions.” The restrictions on press access, which we oppose, are a black eye on the Senate and a provocation for future restrictions. Care about leg branch funding? We’ve […]

Tags: Office of Legal Counsel, Earmarks, Science & Tech, Whistleblower Protections, War Powers

Accountability and Oversight, Blog posts, Reports & Analysis

Improving Congress and Public Access to OLC Opinions: An Update on Congressional Activity

By DanielSchuman January 22, 2020 5 min read

This blogpost summarizes some recent legislative developments concerning opinions issued by the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel. By way of background, OLC interprets the U.S. Constitution, federal statutes, and federal regulations. For many (but not all) matters within the executive branch, the opinions are considered authoritative. For example, the Department of Justice, as a […]

Tags: Executive Branch, Oversight, Office of Legal Counsel

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 […]

Tags: press freedom, War Powers, Earmarks, Remote Voting, Staff Pay, Government Accountability Office, Freedom of Information Act, Office of Legal Counsel

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

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

Forecast for October 28, 2019.

By DanielSchuman October 28, 2019 12 min read

CONGRESS IN BRIEF Government funding runs out by Thanksgiving and lawmakers still haven’t agreed on 302(b) allocations. The Senate will take up a package of four “non-controversial” spending bills this week (Ag, CJS, Interior & Transportation), but there’s no consensus on top line numbers. And now there’s talk about another CR until March — which keeps everyone frozen […]

Tags: Whistleblower Protections, Staff Clearances, Office of Congressional Workplace Rights, Science & Tech, Office of Legal Counsel

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

Forecast for October 7, 2019

By DanielSchuman October 7, 2019 12 min read

TOP LINE The impeachment inquiry is underway — so why don’t members have a sufficiently-cleared staff to help them do their jobs? (They should.) By the way, this Ryan Grimm story on why the Democratic caucus moved towards impeachment is the best one out there. RSVP for the Legislative Data & Transparency Conference, set for Thursday October 17th. Hosted by House Admin in […]

Tags: Science & Tech, Diversity and Inclusion, Congressional Research Service, Office of Legal Counsel

Accountability and Oversight, Advocacy, Blog posts

The OLC SUNLIGHT Act brings much needed transparency to DOJ legal opinions

By DanielSchuman September 28, 2019 2 min read

The OLC SUNLIGHT Act — which would bring desperately needed transparency and accountability to the often secret opinions of the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel — was introduced today. How often are those opinions secret? No one knows, because there’s no publicly or congressionally-available list of all the opinions. The opinions that have […]

Tags: Legislation, Executive Branch, Office of Legal Counsel

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Forecast for July 20, 2020

Forecast for May 11, 2020

Forecast for February 18, 2020.

Create Accountability for DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel Opinions

Forecast For February 10, 2020.

Forecast for January 27, 2020.

Improving Congress and Public Access to OLC Opinions: An Update on Congressional Activity

Forecast for January 21, 2020.

Forecast for January 13, 2020.

Forecast for October 28, 2019.

Forecast for October 7, 2019

The OLC SUNLIGHT Act brings much needed transparency to DOJ legal opinions

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