This week’s newsletter will be shorter than usual. We’ll be back in full force next week.
Technology and Democracy
The Library of Congress will hold a public forum on September 18th from 1-3pm. The forum “provides an opportunity for the public to learn about recent enhancements to Congress.gov and to provide feedback about the site.” Click on the link to RSVP.
The Congressional Hackathon will take place on September 19th from 1-6pm. The hackathon “will bring together a bipartisan group of Members of Congress, Congressional staff, Legislative Branch agency staff, open government and transparency advocates, civic hackers, and developers from digital companies to explore the role of digital platforms in the legislative process.” Follow the link to RSVP.
The House released more answers to its RFI concerning committee video streaming.
The U.S. Open Government Secretariat announced a “completely redesigned website” focused on the U.S. National Action Plan and containing new avenues for public engagement. It appears to have significantly more info than its predecessor, including the status of the current national action plan, implementation tracking, information about upcoming events, info about the newly-established federal advisory committee, and a wide range of resources, including contact info.
What’s your genius idea? Should there be a tool that allows staff to automatically schedule meetings with outside groups at free times on their calendar? An app that automatically condenses written witness testimony and the committee memo into a two-page doc that includes draft member questions? A tracker that shows how busy each cafeteria is? Or that collates all QFRs that relate to an agency? Submit your tech ideas here. I’ll publish the best, but also will keep submitters anonymous unless you give the go-ahead.
From the good ideas in this week’s mailbag: “Talking point management library: an information management system that allows staffers to create, update, and deploy (to memos, etc) talking points for their member and their member’s staff. The problem to be solved: there’s a lot of reinventing the wheel and rewriting text, or searching through arcane and contradictory folder hierarchies to find existing TPs. This tool would be a library with metadata (topical tags, suggested audience, TP approval chain, draft versus approved status, primary staff point of contact, an expiration date, etc) for each TP. Staffers could filter by topic, audience, or other metadata or a text search feature, then click to generate a word document.”
Congressional Safety
Connolly. “Man who attacked Connolly staff was found not guilty by reason of insanity.”
Gallagher. “How Rep. Mike Gallagher, a rising GOP star, was driven out of politics.” [I]in Congress, he’d gotten used to death threats and actual attacks on his colleagues. But this involved his wife and children.”
On that point, 61 officials and 40 private individuals were allegedly swatted by two foreign nationals from 2020-2024, according to an indictment released by the DOJ. Among the victims: ” members of Congress, cabinet-level executive branch officials, senior official[]s of federal law enforcement agencies, and state officials.”
What was Pelosi doing on January 6th and 7th? New video shows her and top aides debating what to say and do about Trump, now former USCP Chief Sund, now former Sergeant at Arms Irving, and more.
The Capitol Police IG has published five reports pursuant to congressional directive to release all their reports. It’s tough to tell when reports are added, but they appear to be: Annual Performance Plan FY 2024 (2024); Assessment of the USCP Leadership Training Program (2020); Performance Audit of the USCP Travel Card Program (2019); Audit of the USCP Memorial Fund (2018); Management Advisory Report: Potential Vendor Violation of United States Capitol Police Acquisition Policy (2017).
I skimmed the reports. The 2019 audit of the USCP oddly redacted the total amount of donations. The IG found in 2019 the USCP travel card program lacked internal controls for ensuring recertification, did not comply with processes for when employees separated from the USCP, and didn’t always take advantage of exemptions from taxes. The 2020 leadership training report found the department did not offer formalized leadership refresher training to supervisors and did not offer training to future department leaders (including folks getting ready for promotion). Several key pages in the 2024 performance plan, which spells out the IG’s goals, were blacked out, so it is difficult to assess what they intend to do. You can see the results for 2023, so it’s unclear why the pages were redacted. Unlike in documents produced through FOIA, there’s no explanation of why material was removed.
Opinion
Inspectors general are doing their jobs, writes Glenn Fine, who served as IG for the Defense Department.
Democracy. “Taking Democracy for Granted: Philanthropy, Polarization, and the Need for Responsible Pluralism,” by Daniel Stid. The Agora Institute will host a seminar on the report on September 4 from 12-1 ET. Summary via ChatGPT:
“The report, ‘Taking Democracy for Granted,’ explores the challenges facing democracy in America, particularly in the context of rising polarization and the role of philanthropy. Despite a significant increase in funding to strengthen democracy, political polarization and distrust have deepened, exacerbating societal divisions. The report argues that philanthropy, while aiming to support democracy, often unintentionally contributes to this polarization by backing ideologically driven agendas. To address these issues, the report advocates for a return to responsible pluralism, emphasizing the need for philanthropy to support diverse viewpoints and help bridge the divide in American society. It outlines a roadmap for philanthropists to shift their focus towards fostering a more inclusive and balanced public discourse, thereby helping to stabilize and strengthen democratic institutions.”
Odds and ends
ICYMI. In rounding up useful insights on subpoena power and a congressional OLC, I forgot to mention this very thoughtful testimony from the director of the Levin Center before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Come for strengthening civil enforcement of subpoenas, stay for other ways to strengthen Congress’s ability to get info.
Rep. Caraveo discloses mental health treatment.
The best-educated congressional offices – and their alma maters – are revealed in a new dataset from Legistorm. I’m glad to see Emory made the top ten list for best paid graduate schools.
Will the Congressional Review Act Be Revived in 2025? Panel discussion hosted by the Federalist society.
Will Members of Congress get their back pay? KTM at Politico and Ryan Tarnelli at Roll Call were in the courtroom for oral argument in Davis v. US. At stake is whether Congress can use the appropriations process to circumvent the 27th Amendment and withhold statutorily-mandated COLAs for members.
The House’s Statement of Disbursements for the second quarter is now available.
This past Friday was Brian Lamb‘s last official day in office. C-SPAN, which he created, launched in March 1979.
The FOIA Advisory Committee will hold the first meeting of its sixth term on Monday, September 9th, from 10-1 ET.
The future of the Senate, in McConnell’s view.
ICYMI
From the 8/26 newsletter: Congress’s once and future legal advisory body and McConnell’s surprising views on proxy voting (link)
From the 8/19 newsletter: Building technology in congress (link)
From the 8/12 newsletter: Recommendations to update the rules of the House of Representatives, Ross Vought’s views on the imperial congress, Can you govern with multiple parties (link)
From the 8/4 newsletter: Senate hearing on updating the nomination confirmation process, CRS building out its data analytics capabilities (link)
