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 • Apparent mismanagement at CRS has created a 19% annual turnover rate in its law division and a lack of diversity in the agency’s senior leadership, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Last week’s House Admin hearing on CRS — the first in more than a decade — shed welcome light on problems facing Congress’s […]
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 […]
BIG PICTURE: SPENDING ON THE HOUSE House Leg Branch Approps Subcommittee favorably reported its FY 2020 approps bill that contains a ton of great provisions. Oddly, Republican members spoke favorably about the bill during the proceedings even as they voted against it, suggesting that their opposition had to do with political concerns unrelated to the work of the […]
AUTHORIZERS AND APPROPRIATORS This past week House Leg Branch Approps received outside testimony from members of Congress and 18 outside witnesses, of which a dozen were in person, concerning strengthening the legislative branch. This sets the stage for this Tuesday’s House Admin hearing on House Officer priorities for 2019 and beyond, featuring the Sergeant at Arms, the Clerk, the Chief Administrative […]
SEVEN PERCENT OF THE HOUSE, or 32 Members, spoke at a Member’s Day hearing of the Fix Congress Committee, held on Tuesday, with 35 members submitting written testimony. (Video, Witness statements). The 3 hour hearing, which followed the committee’s organizational meeting that adopting committee rules, is too complex to recap, but we summarized the subject matter in this spreadsheet. FWIW, I […]
WORKING IN CONGRESS again is in the news, starting with Sen. Klobuchar receiving a drubbing for her ongoing mistreatment of staff. The New York Times tells a gross story of Sen. Klobuchar and a comb, but less salaciously describes her throwing objects and requesting staff return money earned during parental leave if they leave the office. The […]
THE HOUSE COMMITTEE TASKED WITH MODERNIZING CONGRESS has 12 newly appointed members, an initial $50,000 budget (through March), and less than one year to issue recommendations. There’s little doubt that Congress must invest in its own brain power and modernize its technology. The select committee isn’t Congress’s only hope, as the oversight committees (House Admin + Senate Rules) and leg branch […]
Welcome to an abbreviated First Branch Forecast. Today we release a new report on the House Inspector General — yes, the House has an IG. Among our findings: the House IG used to publish its reports online, but nearly all reports were taken down and there’s little public accounting for the IG’s work. What’s in them?
THE TOP LINE House Dem leadership elections are this week. More below. The Government may partially shut down on December 7 when the CR runs out of gas. The House launched the Office of Employee Advocacy (OOEA) according to a Nov. 5 CAO Dear Colleague. House staffers can learn more by following this internal House link. The OOEA provides legal representation […]
THE TOP LINE Happy birthday to the US Constitution, signed 231 years ago today. In its honor, we are pleased to publish online the Constitution Annotated, a treatise commissioned by Congress that explains the Constitution as interpreted by the U.S. Supreme Court. By we, I mean Cornell’s Legal Information Institute, GovTrack.us, and Demand Progress. Reforming the House’s […]