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 […]
CONGRESS IN BRIEF • Only 36 (working) days are left for Congress to pass all 12 spending bills, so why is McConnell pressing pause on the approps process? More below. • 90% of House offices either don’t pay their interns or — more likely — failed to announce they have paid internships in job postings on their websites. • The […]
CONGRESS IN BRIEF • The Approps minibus will hit the House floor this week. Several hundred amendments were offered for Rules Committee consideration, including 38 for leg branch; H. Rules meets Monday at 5 and again on Tuesday. Anyone offering amendments to stop the member pay adjustment from taking place should read this and then find something useful to do instead. Don’t just […]
Congress is in session for the next 4 weeks. Here’s what you need to know: House FSGG Approps Subcommittee markup is tonight at 7. Here’s the draft bill and where you can watch the proceedings. The Fix Congress Committee is talking constituent engagement this Wednesday. The House is on track to consider appropriations bills on the floor starting June 12th. The Congressional Transparency Caucus will demo […]
HOLD ON TO YOUR “OUT OF OFFICE” RESPONSES • Congress doesn’t have the resources right now to take on Trump and House Dem Leadership isn’t fighting to acquire them. • The Fix Congress Committee unanimously approved five measures to improve congressional transparency and accountability. • Oversight wars: the military is trying to hold info back from Congress; McGahn may be held […]
THE MUELLER REPORT IS OUT, but you knew that already. By outsourcing the investigation to Mueller, Congress shirked its constitutional obligation to oversee the executive branch. Mueller’s investigation was narrowly scoped to prosecutable crimes arising from “the Russian government’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.” It’s Congress’s job to examine the larger issues within our political system that allowed […]
THE TOP LINE “Why is Congress so dumb?” Rep. Bill Pascrell’s op-ed does a masterful job of summarizing how the self-lobotomization of Congress caused a decline in congressional expertise and empowered special interests. It’s why the new House Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress is a big deal and represents an opportunity for Congress to stand up for itself. The last time […]
LEGISLATIVE CAPACITY That Congress’s tech savvy hasn’t kept up with the times isn’t exactly breaking news, but we should highlight that 20 bipartisan advocacy groups led by Demand Progress and the Lincoln Network launched Future Congress this past week, a resource hub for efforts to improve science and technology expertise in the legislative branch. Do 218 co-sponsors make a difference […]
The Department of Justice is withholding from online publication 39% (or 201) of its 509 Office of Legal Counsel opinions promulgated between 1998 and 2012, according to a Sunlight Foundation analysis. This apparently conflicts with agency guidance on releasing opinions to the public as well as best practices recommended by former Justice Department officials.