Daniel Schuman
- Policy Director, Demand Progress
Washington, D.C.
Personal account
Ask me about modernizing Congress. :)
@danielschuman@mastodon.social | @http://americalabs.org
daniel ~at~ americalabs.org
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Articles by Daniel Schuman
Trading on Reform
House Administration Committee markup of a limit on Members’ stock trading As the appropriations process has accelerated, members’ instincts for self-preservation have kicked in. By large margins, lawmakers have restored funding in five appropriations bills for FY2026 in a number of programs targeted by the Trump Administration that have importance in many districts. They rejected massive cuts this week to science funding at the National Science Foundation, NASA, and NOAA.
From Nixon to Trump: A Blueprint for Restoring Congressional Authority
The unprecedented power grab by President Trump, in many cases, usurping the clear and Constitutional authority of the U.S. Congress, appears to leave our legislative branch helpless against executive branch encroachment. In fact, the opposite is true. Congress has ample authority to reassert its role in our democracy, and there is a precedent. During the particularly notable episode of executive branch corruption during the Nixon years, Congress responded with a robust series of reforms.
The Speaker Who Silenced the House
The last time the House of Representatives held a vote was September 19, 2025, thirty-one days ago. Since then, Speaker Johnson adjourned the chamber and refused to let it come into session to conduct business, holding only pro forma sessions.
Submission Accomplished
Sometimes, it’s good to hear other people say it. “The GOP-controlled House is an arm of the White House,” Punchbowl’s morning newsletter declared last Wednesday.“Under Johnson and Trump, the House simply isn’t an independent branch of government anymore,” citing Speaker Mike Johnson’s decision to shut down the House to avoid the chamber taking a position on the release of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation files as one more instance of the trend.
Senate Intelligence Committee Archives
Press Discussing Tulsi Gabbard’s intelligence claims: Yoo on Fox News Live Podcast Can Congress Access Classified Information?
Tag Archive: security leaks
Op-Ed The Hidden Cost of Intelligence Leaks Op-Ed America Opens the Door to Its Adversaries Podcast Can Congress Access Classified Information? (with Daniel Schuman) Podcast WTH Is Going on with Edward Snowden?
House Republicans Advance Plan to Halve GAO's Funding
Monday evening, House Legislative Branch appropriators voted 6 to 4 on party lines to cut GAO’s funding by 50% and reduce the Library of Congress’s funding by 12%. This would lay waste to Congress’s watchdogs and information experts. The traditionally bipartisan appropriations subcommittee had little debate and, according to one member, no opportunity to offer amendments. Full committee markup is scheduled for Thursday.
House Bill Would Lay Waste to Congress's Watchdogs and Information Experts
The House of Representatives is poised to inflict catastrophic damage on its own institutional capacity. Today, the House Appropriations Committee released its proposed funding levels for the Legislative Branch, which would slash the Government Accountability Office’s budget by 50 percent and the Library of Congress by 12 percent from FY 2024 levels. These two nonpartisan agencies are essential to Congress’s ability to conduct oversight and develop informed public policy.
Sen. Padilla Was Assaulted on Camera. Congress Must Defend Itself
News reports and online video show law enforcement officials assaulting and handcuffing Sen. Alex Padilla at a press conference held by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. Watch the video of Sen. Padilla identifying himself as a senator as several agents put their hands on him and roughly pushed him out of the room into the hallway. Here is video of Sen. Padilla being forced to the ground and handcuffed, while law enforcement tells those present they are not allowed to record the proceedings.
A Constitutional Confrontation at the Library of Congress
Monday was a tumultuous day for the Library of Congress, the broader Legislative Branch, and our system of government. This past Thursday, President Trump asserted he fired Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. On Saturday he announced he fired Register of Copyright Shira Perlmutter. According to CBS News, President Trump announced on Monday he had named Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche to serve as the Librarian of Congress concurrently with his role at the Justice Department.
Schumer Blinked
One of my favorite books is the Foundation series, written by science fiction grand master Isaac Asimov. It's a fantastical retelling of Edward Gibbon's history book "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," but with a twist. Hari Seldon, a mathematician who lived at the end of the First Galactic Empire, foresaw the fall of civilization, predicting thirty thousand years of misery and suffering before the rise of the second Galactic Empire.
What Congress Should Do
This week I am going to sketch how Congress can use its power to push back against the Trumpist movement, which over the last four weeks has worked assiduously to vest unfettered power in the hands of President Trump and his billionaire allies.
Insider threat
It’s pretty much over for the Legislative branch with the Senate’s 53-47 confirmation of Russell Vought as OMB director. I say this not just because Vought’s unconstitutional views of impoundment will destroy Congress’s most important authority, the power of the purse.
FBF: It's almost recess, but first Chevron, IGs, and committee video (7/29/2024)
The House of Representatives cut short the legislative session on Thursday and won’t be back in town until September 9th. At that point, they’ll have three weeks to pass a continuing resolution to fund the government. The Senate will leave town later this week and won’t reconvene until September 9th. Loving criticism. I spill my not-so-secret plan to revive and reinvigorate the Congressional Research Service in the Washington Monthly. Tell me what you think. Cybersecurity.
The Balance of Powers Demands a Strong Congressional Research Service
Is it too late to fix the Congressional Research Service, Congress’s in-house think tank? On March 20, interim director Robert Newlen described encountering a staffer balancing her cell phone on a door jamb in the repurposed Washington, D.C. book depository that houses CRS. When asked why, she explained that it was the only place she could get cell service and be responsive to calls from congressional offices. When called, she would answer, hang up, and call back from outside the building.
FBF: The Post-Biden Era: 7/22/2024
Good morning and welcome back to what likely will be an insane two weeks before the August recess. As we get started, a few programming notes. The next edition of the First Branch Forecast will come from news@firstbranchforecast.com. Please add that email to your address book, whitelist it, or say whatever incantation is necessary for it to make it into your inbox.
The Trump Administration’s Plan to Seize Control of Spending
Pundits are fixated on the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, but Russell Vought, the man described as Trump’s chief of staff-in-waiting, recently published an overlooked, dangerous plan that would place control of federal spending in Trump’s hands. It turns on the issue of impoundment, an outlawed practice that involves a president withholding funds appropriated by Congress. The first Trump administration attempted to use impoundment to further its agenda, and a second will not be deterred.
Legislative Branch Appropriations Documents
This page consolidates Legislative Branch appropriations documents for Fiscal Years 2013-2020, including budget requests, hearing records, introduced legislation, enacted legislation, bill reports, and more -- all in one place.
How to curtail the tradition of violence between members of Congress Original
This past week saw two publicly reported incidents of violence or invitations to violence on Capitol Hill. A NPR reporter witnessed former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) shoving Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) in a hallway, leading to a chase and what likely will be euphemistically described as a heated discussion. In the upper chamber, Sen.
First Branch Forecast for October 9, 2023: Opportunity in Crisis
This will be the last full issue of the First Branch Forecast for a few weeks. Watch for an email from us from a new email address, most likely in November. More to come. As soon as it was restored in January’s rules package, the motion to vacate the chair became a Chekhov’s gun in the House. It was going to be fired by the hardline faction at some point. It might have blown up in their hands. But it didn’t, and the House enters the new week with the unprecedented need to elect a new Speaker.
Can Congress Access Classified Information? (with Daniel Schuman)
The topic of this episode is, “Can Congress access classified information?” My guest is Daniel Schuman. He is the Policy Director at Demand Progress, a grassroots, nonpartisan organization that has worked to improve the legislative branch and to make government more transparent to the public. Daniel also is the editor of the First Branch Forecast, an extraordinarily informative newsletter that you can read and subscribe to at no cost at https://firstbranchforecast.com/.
50+ Orgs Join Demand Progress and Freedom of Press Foundation to Fight Internet Censorship Provision in NDAA
Today, a broad coalition of more than 50 media guilds, press freedom, civil liberties, and government transparency organizations joined Demand Progress and Freedom of the Press Foundation in a letter to the Senate urging the blocking of a dangerous new amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would censor the online publication of information about members of Congress and those connected to them.
Making It Easier for the Less Wealthy to Serve in Congress
Gregg Harper quit his government job because he couldn’t afford to provide for his adult son, who has Fragile X Syndrome. In an unusual twist, he was a member of Congress. In fact, all members of Congress have seen their effective paycheck shrink over the years. Members of Congress are often thought of as wealthy—and many of them are. But scores of them have an average net worth below that of the median American household of $121,700.
A Biased Yet Reliable Guide to Sources of Information and Data About Congress
1/ There’s big gaps in the data story 2/ Even when there’s data, it may not tell the whole story Info about Congress isn’t entire reliable, even when it is official, e.g., the Congressional Record (“revise and extend”) Congress historically is a paper-based institution, driven by people with agendas, and it has inconsistent archival practices, e.g. GPO established in 1860, National Archives created in 1934 Its institutions are built to solve a particular problem, not work for all time.
House Appropriations FY2024 Earmarks Requests, Enhanced with Additional Metadata by Demand Progress Education Fund
At the end of last week, the House Appropriations Committee published all earmark requests for FY 2024 on the committee’s website, including publishing them as a spreadsheet. This is great and welcome news. For the first time, the appropriations spreadsheet separated member names into different columns and included state, district, party, and recipient address. This makes the information significantly more usable. Thank you.
Why this year’s contest for Speaker is how Congress should operate
If politics is the art of negotiation, Congress is where we negotiate the non-negotiable. It is where our elected representatives debate our differences and tackle controversial issues. At least it should be. Today’s Congress resembles a hierarchical organization — like the military or a factory — more than a forum for collective decision-making. It is where one person gives orders, and everyone else salutes and obeys. Anything that prevents them from doing so is deemed counterproductive.
First Branch Forecast for January 2, 2023: Hindsight is 2022
The 117th Congress was astonishingly productive by any reasonable measure. It had everything arrayed against its success, including an attempted coup even before it began by the outgoing administration that nearly resulted in the murder of the constitutional line of succession. After it gaveled in, it contended with determination by the ex-president’s co-partisans to thwart impeachment proceedings and accountability for the Trump insurrectionists.
Members of Congress on Mastodon
Fourteen years ago, an organization I was involved with pushed to change congressional rules to allow members of Congress onto Twitter.
Improving the House Statement of Disbursements: Feedback Requested
The House of Representatives wants to improve how the Statements of Disbursements are published as data and they are asking for your help and input. A summary of how we got to this point is immediately below. Skip to the bottom if you want to share your views on how the Statements of Disbursements should be published, including reviewing a sample data set that contains the House’s proposal as well as a link to where you can provide feedback.
Save the Dates: Congressional Data Task Force Meetings Set for End of 2022
The Congressional Data Task Force announced the dates of its third and fourth quarter public meetings. The CDTF will hold its Q3 public meeting from 2-4pm ET on Thursday September 29. In the future, you can follow this link to register online. The CDTF will hold its Q4 public meeting from 2-4 PM ET on Thursday, December 13. In the future, you can follow this link to register online. Catch up with this recap from the June meeting.
Library of Congress Launches Congress.gov API
On September 6th, the Library of Congress announced it launched a beta version of its Congress.gov API. While APIs for legislative data aren’t new for the Legislative branch — see, for example, the Government Publishing Office’s API — this is a pretty big deal. For the reason why, it’s helpful to know a little history. In 1995, the Library of Congress and GPO launched THOMAS.LOC.GOV, a website containing bills under consideration by the 104th Congress, including information about their status.
Library of Congress announces date for Virtual Public Forum on Congress.gov
The Library of Congress announced it will hold its third virtual public forum on congress.gov on September 21, 2022 from 1:30-4:30 PM ET. The forum will focus on user suggestions for enhanced access to congressional information/data on congress.gov and also provide an opportunity for the Library to provide updates on improvements to that website.
Bulk Data Task Force Meeting Set for June 21, 2022
The Congressional Bulk Data Task force announced its upcoming quarterly meeting with take place on Tuesday, June 21, from 2-4 p.m. To join the meeting, register on its webpage.
Advisory Committee on Records of Congress Sets Meeting for June 10, 2022
The Advisory Committee on the Records of Congress has announced its semi-annual meeting on June 10th, 2022, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 pm ET. To attend the meeting, you must RSVP to archives@mail.house.gov by June 3rd. More details about the ACRC meeting are here.
Statement on House Unionization Vote + Establishment of Minimum Wage
“Today is a proud moment in congressional history and portends a significant advance in the working conditions for congressional staff,” said Daniel Schuman, policy director of Demand Progress, a non-governmental organization focused on strengthening our democracy that has led a broad coalition to advocate for the right of congressional staff to unionize and pushed for higher staff pay.
Congressional Hackathon 4.0
Daniel Schuman April 8, 2022 On Wednesday, April 6th, 2022, Congress held the Fourth Congressional Hackathon, co-hosted by Majority Leader Hoyer and Minority Leader McCarthy. This blogpost is a stub to gather information from the hackathon. We will update it when we have some time. The format of the hackathon was: 1. Presentations: by Steve Dwyer, Majority Leader Hoyer, Minority Leader McCarthy, Matt Lira, and aneesh Chopra.
House Breaks Promise to Committee Staff On Pay Adjustment
Earlier today, the Committee on House Administration favorably reported a resolution to provide a 10% pay adjustment to most committee staff — which sounds like good news until you remember that the House had promised a 21% adjustment, in line with increases to personal office and leadership staff. I realized the discrepancy yesterday when crunching the numbers, which I’ve published below.
Project ideas for the Congressional Hackathon
Daniel Schuman March 22, 2022 The fourth Congressional Hackathon will be held on April 6th, and in advance of the proceedings we’ve updated our list of project ideas and resources for the hackathon. The information is published as a Google document, so please feel encouraged to add your own ideas or add content to existing ones. The ideas, including a summary of the idea, recommendations, and resources, are available here. You can also find a top line summary of the idea below.
OPIINION: Banning stock trading is a first step in cleaning up Congress
Sen. Richard Burr is under investigation for selling millions of dollars in stocks following a briefing on Covid-19. Schuman is policy director for Demand Progress. Olive is a writer and research assistant for the organization. Last year, 57 members of Congress and 182 senior-level congressional staffers violated the law requiring them to disclose their financial conflicts of interest, according to painstaking reporting from Business Insider.
Key Funding Items Included in the FY 2022 Legislative Branch Bill
The FY 2022 appropriations omnibus was passed by both houses of Congress this past week and President Biden is expected to shortly sign the measure into law. The FY 2022 Legislative Branch Appropriations Bill was rolled into the package, and it is packed with good government reforms and significant investments in Congress’s capacity to legislate, conduct oversight, serve constituents, and more.
What We Know About How House Unionization Might Work
The House Administration Committee held a hearing on Congressional unionization on Wednesday, March 2, 2022. Congress approved legislation providing for unions a quarter-century ago and the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights (OCWR) promulgated regulations on how unionization would work at the time, but tricky language in that law requires the House to act (by a resolution) to implement labor protections for certain political and non-political staff.
Save the Date: BDTF Meetings on March 10 and June 9
Daniel Schuman February 23, 2022 The next Bulk Data Task Force meeting will be held on Zoom on Thursday, March 10, from 2 – 3:30 EST. The second quarter meeting is scheduled for Thursday, June 9, also from 2 – 3:30 EST. Registration for the March 10th event is now online here.
First Branch Forecast: ModCom, PODA, PACER, + USCP 12/13/2021
Welcome to the First Branch Forecast, your regular look into the Legislative branch and government transparency. Tell your friends to subscribe. THE TOP LINE Bonus week.
The Congressional Data Task Force Continues Efforts to Modernize Congressional Tech, Including Itself
The Congressional Data Task Force announced significant legislative branch technology modernization efforts at their second quarter meeting on June 21, 2022, starting with a name change from the Bulk Data Task Force in recognition of the expanded scope of the working group as it goes into its second decade of existence.
The Capitol Police Should Issue FOIA-like Regs
Today Demand Progress Education Fund released model public records request regulations for the United States Capitol Police Force. If implemented, these regulations would create a FOIA-like process for the Capitol Police, which our multi-year investigation had previously revealed to be particularly secretive.
The Recap: Library of Congress 2021 Virtual Public Forum
On September 2, 2021, the Library of Congress held the second of two virtual public fora on the Library’s role in providing access to legislative information directed by congressional appropriators in FY2020. (For reference, language requiring the proceedings was included in the committee report accompanying the FY2020 Legislative Branch Appropriations Bill.) We summarized the 2020 forum here.
Senate Personal Offices Now Allowed a Staffer With TS/SCI Clearance
Daniel Schuman Uncategorized November 16, 2021 Every senator will now be able to designate one aide as eligible to apply for a TS/SCI clearance according to an announcement made by Sen. Schumer and reported by Politico. Clearances give staffers the ability to review matters deemed classified by the Executive branch. Senator Murphy is a long-time champion of this change, which had broad, bipartisan support.
Recap of Bulk Data Task Force Meeting on July 14, 2021
The Bulk Data Task Force met on July 14, 2021, for the first quarterly meeting since October 2019, which is just before the COVID pandemic began. The virtual meeting included presentations from the House of Representatives, the Library of Congress, GPO, the Senate, and Demand Progress Education Fund. Video from the 2-hour long proceedings are available here and slides from the presentations are available on GPO’s Innovation Hub. More than 100 people were pre-registered to attend the meeting.
Forecast for August 27, 2021
Welcome to the First Branch Forecast, your regular look into the Legislative branch and government transparency. This is an unusual Friday edition; we are hoping to not publish next week. Subscribe here. THE TOP LINE The House returns for a committee work week on Tuesday; the Senate is out until September 13th.The House’s National Defense Authorization Act markup will start on September 1.
Some States Moving on ‘Qualified Immunity’ Reform
During last summer’s protests against police brutality, one policy prescription that was often proposed by activists was ending the legal doctrine of qualified immunity. A year later, nothing has changed in Congress, but state lawmakers and the judiciary are starting to pick up the slack. Qualified immunity—which was created by the Supreme Court with its 1982 ruling in Harlow v.
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