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Accountability and Oversight, Appropriations, Congressional Security, Ethics and Influence, First Branch Forecast, Blog posts

Forecast for March 8, 2021

By DanielSchuman March 8, 2021 24 min read

Welcome to the First Branch Forecast, your weekly look into the Legislative branch and government transparency. (Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe here.) THE TOP LINE General Honoré will brief Congress today in three closed meetings on his “Capitol Security Review” that was conducted out of public view over the last six weeks. The NYT published a […]

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Accountability and Oversight, Appropriations, Congressional Security, First Branch Forecast, Blog posts

Forecast for March 1, 2021.

By DanielSchuman March 1, 2021 22 min read

Welcome to the First Branch Forecast, your weekly look into the Legislative branch and government transparency. (Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe here.) TOP LINE Officials tasked with keeping the Capitol safe and open testified before Congress last week — see the video & written testimony from the HSGAC/Senate Rules hearing with all the former security leaders and […]

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Congressional Security, Congressional Workplace Fairness and Inclusion, Continuity and Resiliency, Ethics and Influence, Modernization, Rules, First Branch Forecast, Blog posts

First Branch Forecast: January 11, 2020

By DanielSchuman January 11, 2021 19 min read

We are overwhelmed and you are too. If you are feeling like you need to talk to someone, call the national suicide helpline at 800-273-8255. You can call even if you are just feeling powerful emotions. It’s perfectly okay to do so. Congressionals can reach out to the Office of Employee Assistance (there’s a recent […]

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

Forecast for September 9, 2020.

By DanielSchuman September 9, 2020 11 min read

Did you miss us? Welcome back to the First Branch Forecast! August was surprisingly busy so we have a pretty robust newsletter for you. Keep your eyes on appropriations, COVID-relief, the NDAA, the upcoming House Rules process, possible reforms in the Senate, and Executive branch efforts to undermine Congress. We put six months of effort […]

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

Forecast for June 15, 2020

By DanielSchuman June 15, 2020 11 min read

THE TOP LINE The House schedule has changed again: June 25 and 26 are for police reform legislation; the week of June 29 is for health care and infrastructure (!!!!); and the last two weeks of July are for Appropriations and NDAA. Apropos approps: Oddly, the Senate will start approps mark-ups first, and some subcommittee bills will go directly […]

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

Pay Study Data: Relationship of Cost of Living Adjustments & Staff Longevity

By DanielSchuman April 30, 2020 2 min read

Last year the House released a valuable report on staff pay, benefits, and diversity. We took a look at the data to answer the question, are better pay and benefits really correlated with staff staying on board? The short answer is yes. We’ll be releasing a series of short articles focusing on different variables and […]

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

New Data on House Staff Pay and Retention

By DanielSchuman April 13, 2020 2 min read

Congressional staff are generally overworked and underpaid. Talented employees with vast institutional knowledge are eventually forced to choose between Congress and a sustainable lifestyle; the result is a Legislative Branch brain drain with employees leaving for better paying jobs in the Executive Branch or private sector. On top of that, Congress has a diversity problem: […]

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

Forecast for April 6, 2020.

By DanielSchuman April 6, 2020 12 min read

TOP LINE It’s been another never-ending week. We hope that you’re staying healthy and staying at home. This issue focuses on continuity of Congress, protecting whistleblowers, mass surveillance, and coronavirus “oversight.”  (Hey, if you’re regularly reading our little newsletter, why not subscribe if you have not already? It’s free…)

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

Forecast for March 9, 2020.

By DanielSchuman March 9, 2020 11 min read

TOP LINE There’s more news than can fit in our little newsletter. The House Rules Committee did its part to encourage the Article I Renaissance (to steal a phrase from Lorelei Kelly) with a nearly four-hour hearing spiced with thoughtful expert testimony examining how Congress’ role has been diminished over decades and how to reassert congressional authority. (How, […]

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Accountability and Oversight, Congressional Workplace Fairness and Inclusion, Ethics and Influence, Modernization, Uncategorized, Blog posts

Forecast For February 3, 2020.

By DanielSchuman February 3, 2020 10 min read

THE TOP LINE Congress’s science & tech policy agency was defunded in the 90s; this week, Harvard’s Ash Center published Zach Graves and my road map to building a modern congressional technology assessment office. (More below) The House moved to reassert congressional war powers authority when it passed two measures that limits the spending of money on war with […]

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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 […]

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

Forecast for December 16, 2019

By DanielSchuman December 16, 2019 12 min read

TOP LINE It’s your jam. For weeks, we’ve been gearing up for leadership to jam members with tons of major votes as they head out the door. This week we will see at least two appropriations minibuses (likely Tuesday in the House), impeachment (Wednesday in the House), USCMA (i.e. NAFTA v2, likely on Thursday), a long […]

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