Tag: Transparency

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Modernization, Rules, Announcements and Statements, Advocacy, Announcements, Blog posts, Reports & Analysis

Demand Progress and Lincoln Network Issue Bipartisan House Rules Recommendations Calling for Rebalancing Power in the 118th Congress

By DanielSchuman November 29, 2022 4 min read

The progressive grassroots policy advocacy organization Demand Progress and the right-leaning technology nonprofit Lincoln Network have joined forces to urge the House of Representatives to adopt modern rules that improve congressional transparency, oversight, technology, and more. The bipartisan recommendations issued today by the two groups emphasize changes to House Rules that give more power to […]

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Accountability and Oversight, Announcements and Statements, Blog posts, Reports & Analysis

Recs on Making GovInfo More Transparent, Useful, & Accessible

By DanielSchuman November 29, 2022 2 min read

In response to the White House’s announcement of an open government engagement session on increasing federal data access and utility, Demand Progress Education Fund submitted these recommendations for making government information more transparent, useful, and accessible.

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Modernization, Rules, Blog posts, Reports & Analysis

The 118th House Rules Package Should Retain Fixes From the 116th and 117th Congresses

By DanielSchuman November 17, 2022 8 min read

Written by Taylor J. Swift The conservative House Freedom Caucus issued a 52-page guide to new GOP candidates last month on what they’ll face as freshman members, with recommendations for updating the rules for the chamber and for the party, and the conservative Lincoln Network just published their own recommendations for the rules and procedures […]

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Accountability and Oversight, Advocacy, Announcements, Blog posts

Statement on Senate Judiciary Subcmte Hearing: “Office of Legal Counsel’s Role in Shaping Executive Privilege Doctrine”

By DanielSchuman October 18, 2022 3 min read

Today at 2 PM ET, the Senate Judiciary subcommittee is holding a hearing entitled “The Office of Legal Counsel’s Role in Shaping Executive Privilege Doctrine” with OLC’s Assistant Attorney General Christopher Schroeder as the sole witness.  Given that secrecy is an all-too-common aspect of the OLC’s work, and that its secrecy has at times undermined […]

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Accountability and Oversight, Appropriations, Modernization, Rules, First Branch Forecast, Blog posts

First Branch Forecast for May 31, 2022: Capture the Flag

By DanielSchuman May 31, 2022 12 min read

TOP LINE  This week. Happy Memorial Day recess—both chambers are out this week, giving us (and hopefully you, too) a chance to take a break, or at least slow down. Approps. We were expecting Senate Leg branch approps hearing with the USCP, GAO, and Library of Congress last week, but it was postponed. Stay tuned.  […]

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Accountability and Oversight, Congressional Security, Advocacy, Blog posts

Make U.S. Capitol Police IG Reports Publicly Available Online

By DanielSchuman January 6, 2022 2 min read

Federal inspectors general routinely publish their findings online. This helps hold federal agencies to account by creating public and internal pressure to address the concerns raised by the IG and creating a record should they fail to fix problems. However, the Capitol Police Inspector General is one of a handful of IGs that withholds their […]

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Accountability and Oversight, Uncategorized, Blog posts

All Non-Confidential CRS Reports Should be Available Online

By DanielSchuman December 17, 2021 2 min read

The public does not have access to a comprehensive database of non-confidential Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports. Recently, Demand Progress, American Enterprise Institute, and Free Government Information, and a coalition of 39 other organizations and 21 experts on Congress, including many CRS analysts, wrote to Representative Zoe Lofgren and Senator Amy Klobuchar, the Chair and […]

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Accountability and Oversight, Advocacy, Blog posts

Put Senate Bills and Amendments Online Before Votes

By DanielSchuman December 9, 2021 2 min read

The public does not have real time access to bills and amendments as they are considered on the Senate floor. This week, Demand Progress, Lincoln Network, and a coalition of 41 other organizations and 15 experts sent a letter to Senate leadership requesting the Senate publish bills and amendments online while they are still under […]

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

First Branch Forecast: Top lines, bottom lines, effective oversight, and legislative nirvana (Nov. 8, 2021)

By DanielSchuman November 8, 2021 10 min read

Welcome‌ ‌to‌ ‌the‌ ‌First‌ ‌Branch‌ ‌Forecast,‌ ‌your‌ ‌regular‌ ‌look‌ ‌into‌ ‌the‌ ‌Legislative‌ ‌branch‌ ‌and‌ ‌government ‌transparency.‌ ‌Tell ‌your‌ ‌friends‌ ‌to‌ subscribe. THE TOP LINE OOO. The Senate is in recess until the week of November 15th; no floor votes are scheduled in the House until the week of the 15th, although there are a few committee […]

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Reports & Analysis

First Reactions to Senate Democrats’ Commerce, Justice, Science FY 2022 Appropriations Subcommittee Bill

By DanielSchuman October 28, 2021 5 min read

On October 18, 2021, the Senate Appropriations Committee Democrats released draft bill text, an explanatory statement, and a subcommittee summary for the Commerce, Justice, and Science appropriations bill. We reviewed the contents and compared the proposed funding to the enacted levels from the last Congress. Senate Democrats’ CJS appropriations bill includes a discretionary funding level […]

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Appropriations, Blog posts, Reports & Analysis

First Reactions to Senate Democrats’ Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Subcommittee Bill

By DanielSchuman October 20, 2021 4 min read

On Monday, the Senate Appropriations Committee Democrats released draft text, explanatory statements, and summaries for nine appropriations bills, including the Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee. We reviewed the bill text, explanatory report, and subcommittee bill summary and compared the proposed funding to the enacted levels from the last Congress.  Senate Democratic Appropriators proposed a […]

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Accountability and Oversight, Appropriations, Modernization, Rules, Appropriation Tracking, Blog posts, Reports & Analysis

What Items Are Due to Congress: August 2021

By DanielSchuman August 2, 2021 25 min read

Congress regularly requests reports on strengthening Congress but there’s no central place to keep track of what they’ve requested. To help keep track of things, we built a public spreadsheet that maintains a catalog of projects, broken down by item due, entity responsible, and due date. The catalog covers reforms and requests ordered by the […]

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