Back in December 2019, Congress passed the Legislative Branch Appropriations bill for FY 2020, starting the clock on dozens of Leg. Branch projects and reports.
Last month, our team reviewed requests from the Leg. Branch approps bill, broke them down by entity, and summarized the deadlines. For those interested in looking at the complete spreadsheet, you can access it here.
We will regularly post a list of items due from the Leg. Branch approps bill, broken down by entity. We also will include which items were due during the previous month at the end of the report.
Expected This Month
Below are the items that are expected in March 2020, broken down by entity:
Architect of the Capitol (AOC)
Report on Expanding Senate Child Care Physical Capacity
Joint Report, p. 13
Deadline: March 31, 2020
The AOC will report on options for expanding the physical capacity of the Senate Employees’ Child Care Center (SECCC) before April 2020. In anticipation of those results, Senate appropriators provided $1,000,000 for pre-design activities if a preferred option from the study is selected.
Congressional Budget Office (CBO)
Report on CBO Transparency
Senate Report, p. 34
Deadline: March 19, 2020
The Committee directed CBO to provide an updated report on the agency’s ongoing and future efforts to implement the multi-year plan to increase CBO capacity, transparency, and responsiveness. The report is also expected to cover the agency’s transparency efforts from 2019.
Congressional Research Service (CRS)
Study of CRS Unfilled Analyst Positions
House Report, p. 32
Deadline: March 19, 2020
The Committee directed CRS to help identify where additional resources are required by turning in a report detailing how many FTE positions for legislative topic area analysts available to assist Members and staff have not been filled subsequent to retirements or other vacancies during each of the last five years.
Library of Congress (LOC)
Study of LOC’s Outreach to MInority Serving Institutions
House Report, p. 29
Deadline: March 19, 2020
The Committee has urged the Library to increase cooperative partnerships, fellowship opportunities, and curriculum program associations with community colleges, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-serving institutions, Asian American and native American Pacific Islander-serving institutions, American Indian Tribally controlled colleges and universities, Alaska native and Native Hawaiian-serving institutions, and other minority serving-institutions. The Committee also requested the Library submit a report detailing these efforts.
Sergeant at Arms, House (House SAA)
Security Clearance Report
House Report, p. 9
Deadline: March 1st of each of the next 2 years
It appears security clearances for Leg. Branch staff are not being finalized and adjudicated at a rate that is consistent with the Executive Branch timelines. The Committee therefore requested an unclassified report from the House SAA detailing the average and median length of time from open to close of all security clearance requests, and suggested the report includes an annex breaking down request length by level of security clearance.
Sergeant at Arms, Senate (Senate SAA)
E-Signature Platform
Senate Report, p. 13
Deadline: March 19, 2020
The Committee asked the Senate SAA to report on the estimated cost and feasibility of an e-Signature platform that would allow offices to sign multi-signature letters electronically. This would create a level of quality assurance and save staff work hours.
Due in February
Below are the items that had due dates in February 2020, broken down by entity:
Architect of the Capitol (AOC)
Report on Implementation of AOC Inspector General’s Recommendations Related to Sexual Harassment
Senate Report, p. 36
Deadline: February 18, 2020
The Committee is concerned about the work environment at the AOC. Appropriators asked the agency to provide a status report on its implementation of the 16 recommendations listed in the March 2019 AOC OIG report on sexual harassment at the agency, as well as the recommendations identified in prior OIG sexual harassment management advisories. Appropriators want the report to include an implementation timeline as well as any changes to the AOC’s internal policies relating to harassment and discrimination, including employee trainings.
Clerk of the House of Representatives (Clerk)
Immediate Roll Call Vote Availability
House Report, p. 9
Deadline: February 18, 2020
The Committee requested a report from the Clerk on the feasibility of making roll call votes immediately available to the public on the Clerk’s website.
Lobbyist Disclosure Unique Identifier
House Report, p. 9
Deadline: February 18, 2020
The Committee requested a status update from the Clerk on the generating of Congress-wide unique IDs for lobbyists and disclosing those IDs to the public as structured data.
U.S. Capitol Police (USCP)
USCP Wellness Program
Senate Report, p. 30
Deadline: February 2, 2020
The Committee encouraged USCP to implement a holistic wellness program emphasizing physical fitness, nutritional health, mental and emotional health, and financial wellness. The Committee directed USCP to submit a report that provides the scope, timeline and the cost estimates for implementation and maintenance of such a program. They requested specific details like how the Department plans to utilize its current resources and how it would expand these capabilities to provide the greatest opportunity for its workforce to improve and maintain their physical fitness and nutritional health.
— Written by Taylor J. Swift
