TOP LINE It’s still recess. This week, we cover: The credit rating downgrade and how to get out of that hole Lessons from the federal Trump insurrection prosecution The bicameral hearing into problems at the Capitol Police And a smattering of other issues. CREDIT DOWNGRADE Our political leaders have managed to talk the markets into downgrading the … Continued
TOP LINE Recess is here, but it’s not an opportunity to breathe easier. All 12 appropriations bills have been reported by the Senate Appropriations Committee, a first for the Senate in five years. Meanwhile, only 10 have made it out of the House Appropriations Committee gauntlet and there’s talk they won’t take up the other two. … Continued
Demand Progress Education Fund Releases New Report Card and Recommendations A new report by Demand Progress Education Fund found that the US Capitol Police (USCP) has either failed to comply with or has slow-walked implementing several reform directives from Congress and recommendations by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), all aimed at improving the agency’s accountability. … Continued
TOP LINE The last business week before recess arrives with little sense of how the two chambers will come eye to eye on appropriations when they reconvene in September. For your reading pleasure, we describe below the good news concerning civil liberties coming out of Congress as two important provisions cleared markups last week. Also, … Continued
On Thursday, July 13, 2023, the Full Senate Appropriations Committee reported out the FY 2024 Legislative Branch Appropriations bill 30-0. The bill text and report weren’t published online until Friday morning but can be found here. To help keep track of all items requested in the Senate Legislative Branch bill report, we built a public … Continued
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 … Continued
The House Judiciary Committee favorably reported the Protecting Reporters from Exploitative State Spying Act (PRESS) Act, 23-0. This is positive news that we welcome, as the PRESS Act is critical legislation that would protect reporters and their technology providers from revealing their confidential sources and underscores the importance of protecting a free press from federal … Continued
WASHINGTON, D.C. — This morning, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Department of Justice (DOJ) published a draft of new merger guidelines. In response, Demand Progress Communications Director Maria Langholz issued the following statement: “The new merger guidelines proposed today by the FTC and DOJ reflect critical learnings of the last decades — and lay out a clear … Continued
WASHINGTON, D.C. — This morning, the House Judiciary Committee passed the Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act, key legislation that closes the Data Broker Loophole and ensures Americans’ private data is not sold to the federal government without a warrant. In response to its passage, Demand Progress Senior Policy Counsel Sean Vitka issued the following statement: … Continued
TOP LINE The NDAA is about to burst into flames like an unwatered Christmas tree, having passed the House by a bare 219-210. The appropriations bills have become a Barbenheimer of toplines and messaging amendments. Welcome to the summer of minoritarian legislating. The Senate Appropriations Committee reported out the Legislative branch appropriations bill 30-0 mid-week, … Continued
By Taylor J. Swift, senior policy advisor On Thursday, July 13, the full Senate Appropriations Committee reported out the Legislative Branch Appropriations bill and report 30-0. Unfortunately, the bill text, manager’s amendment, and committee report didn’t come out until Friday morning, the day after the markup. The Senate proposed to appropriate $6.761 billion towards the … Continued
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The House of Representatives just unanimously adopted a critical bipartisan privacy amendment (Amdt #66) offered to the National Defense Authorization Act for 2024 by Reps. Davidson (R-OH), Jacobs (D-CA), Mace (R-SC), Jayapal (D-WA), Biggs (R-AZ), Lofgren (D-CA), Tenney (R-NY), and Hoyle (D-OR). This amendment closes the data broker loophole at the Department of Defense and … Continued
WASHINGTON, D.C. — This morning, the House of Representatives passed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024 (H.R. 2670). In response to its passage, Demand Progress Policy Advisor Hajar Hammado issued the following statement: “We are dismayed by the deeply flawed NDAA amendment process this year, which has deprived Congress of the opportunity to … Continued
WASHINGTON – Today, a transpartisan group of 26 organizations – including Demand Progress Action, Common Defense, R Street, Justice Foreign Policy, Center for International Policy, Quincy Institute, and Win Without War – sent a letter to representatives urging them to support a Syria war powers amendment offered by Rep. Bowman to the FY 2024 National … Continued
TOP LINE Congress returns from the July 4th holiday and dives into a three-week sprint of work before the longer August recess. Appropriations bills remain the focus, with the Senate set to markup the Leg. Branch, CJS, and FSGG bills on Thursday. Look out for the proposed text perhaps the day before. The NDAA is slated to hit the House … Continued
We are excited to announce Maricelly Malave and David Moon are interim co-ExecutiveDirectors of Demand Progress and Demand Progress Education Fund. Maricelly Malave is a Boricua human rights and Latin American specialist, with expertise inmigration policy, and civil and labor rights. She is a longstanding activist for racial justice andrefugee rights with experience in peace … Continued
TOP LINE This week Congress starts its two-week Independence Day holiday. We’re hoping to take next week off from writing our little newsletter, but we’ll be back. Among the highlights from this past week: Senate Appropriators adopted 302(b) allocations that are very different from the House’s untenable numbers, but with many Republican defections the National … Continued
“The introduction of a resolution to grant Senate staff unionization rights long available to workers across this country is an important step toward strengthening Congress,” said Taylor J. Swift, senior policy advisor at Demand Progress. “We commend Senator Sherrod Brown and all senators supporting this important resolution to improve congressional workforce rights. A year of … Continued