Tag: Science & Tech

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

Forecast for November 11, 2019.

By DanielSchuman November 11, 2019 12 min read

PRE-RAMBLE With impeachment and the election season heating up, I want to talk directly about this newsletter. We focus on building a strong, modern, resilient Congress and stay away from items that are merely partisan or about political advantage. But questions arising from the operation of the legislative branch have become closely intertwined with the […]

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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 […]

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Appropriations, Blog posts, Reports & Analysis

The Leg Branch Approps To-Do List for FY 2019

By DanielSchuman October 12, 2019 10 min read

Congress requested a number of improvements to how the legislative branch functions as part of the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2019 (and, in one instance, for FY 2018). What happened? We reviewed the status of requested leg branch projects in the following chart and then provided an issue-by-issue analysis. We expect to […]

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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 […]

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Modernization, Advocacy, Blog posts

A modernized OTA is a key step in addressing Congress’s S&T capacity gap

By DanielSchuman September 25, 2019 3 min read

by Daniel Schuman and Zach Graves Last week, bipartisan bicameral legislation was introduced by Reps. Mark Takano (D-CA) and Bill Foster (D-IL), and Sens. Maizie Hirono (D-HI) and Thom Tillis (R-NC), aimed at strengthening Congress’s ability to understand science and technology policy issues. (H.R. 4426, S. 2509) We welcome these developments and are encouraged to […]

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

Forecast for September 23, 2019.

By DanielSchuman September 24, 2019 8 min read

This week’s First Branch Forecast is a big one, so here’s your guide to what’s inside: • Who’s the turkey now? The CR sets up a pre-Turkey-day approps showdown; meanwhile, the Fix Congress committee held a hearing on fixing the budget process. • Congress’s power of the purse is its greatest weapon against executive overreach; more below on how the […]

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Modernization, First Branch Forecast, Blog posts

Forecast for August 26, 2019.

By DanielSchuman August 26, 2019 4 min read

THE TOP LINE Are you pondering what I’m pondering? In this case, how would a new OTA decide what to study? How do Senate committees get their funding and where does it go? The take-aways: Senate committee funding is at an 18-year low; it’s really good to be an appropriator; and Senate committees are in better shape than House […]

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Modernization, Blog posts, Reports & Analysis

How Should the New OTA Decide What To Study?

By DanielSchuman August 21, 2019 7 min read

The likelihood of Congress reinstating a science and technology assessment office is at an all time high, but should such an agency be reconstituted, how should it decide what issues to address? Congress’s other legislative support agencies — the Government Accountability Office, the Congressional Research Service, and the Congressional Budget Office — use various mechanisms […]

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Modernization, First Branch Forecast, Blog posts

Forecast for August 12, 2019.

By DanielSchuman August 12, 2019 5 min read

THE TOP LINE The House and Senate return on September 9th, which is 3 full weeks before the start of the next fiscal year. Both chambers must pass and reconcile all 12 spending bills by October 1 to avoid a government shutdown. So far the Senate hasn’t given notice of any approps markups. The House […]

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Appropriations, Blog posts, Reports & Analysis

The Crystal Ball on Funding for the Office of Technology Assessment

By DanielSchuman August 9, 2019 3 min read

Earlier this year, the House’s Appropriations Committee favorably reported a Legislative Branch Appropriations bill for FY 2020 that contained $6m in start-up funds for the Office of Technology Assessment spread out over two years. Now that the House and Senate have agreed upon top line spending numbers for the federal government, where does all this […]

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

Forecast for July 29, 2019.

By DanielSchuman July 29, 2019 5 min read

The House is out for August recess; the Senate has one week to go. Here’s what you need to know for the week of July 29, 2019. SELECT COMMITTEE GRAND SLAM The Fix Congress Committee adopted two-dozen recommendations last week and also turned their May recommendations into H. Res 526. A super-majority of the committee is required to adopt recommendations; […]

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

Forecast for June 17, 2019.

By DanielSchuman June 17, 2019 7 min read

CONGRESS IN BRIEF • Congress’s staff retention and diversity issues will be the subject of a Fix Congress committee hearing on Thursday. • The Congressional Research Service will be subject to a rare (and much needed) oversight hearing before the House Administration Committee on Thursday. It’s time to re-read Kevin Kosar’s “Why I Quit the Congressional Research Service.” • Approps on […]

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