Firewall or Fault Line?
Congress Faces Executive Overreach, Internal Ethics Cracks, and Institutional Drift
Good morning, dear readers. It's the start of a new week so let's dig right in.
The Congressional Data Task Force, the Legislative branch's effort to bring technology stakeholders together to develop tools to support the institution, will have its quarterly meeting on Tuesday. This hybrid meeting, from 2-4 p.m., is for everyone inside and outside Congress that's interested in improving access to and use of legislative data. All the cool people will be there. Registration requested.
The Congressional Transparency Caucus, founded in 2010 with the purpose of improving transparency across the government, will host a panel discussion Tuesday at 9 a.m. on what's next in transparency. Learn more and RSVP.
The Register of Copyrights is suing over Pres. Trump's efforts to unlawfully remove her from her office. The blog Copyright Lately analyzed what's at stake. If you want to follow the filings, the superb non-profit Court Listener is publishing the case docket. The American Enterprise Institute's Kevin Kosar has a smart piece in the Washington Examiner on who's the boss of the Library of Congress? (It's Congress.)
The House Appropriations markup schedule is out (ICYMI, released on May 21). For the leg branch nerds out there, the Leg branch subcommittee markup is at 10:30 on Tuesday, June 24th, and the full committee markup is Friday, June 27th, at 10 a.m. When will the bill text and report language be publicly available? We've got an evergreen blogpost explaining the timing.
Things to watch : overall funding levels for GAO and CBO. Politico wrote an article entitled "GOP declares war on GAO." They've also described "CBO in GOP crosshairs." This is foolish. GAO's integrity is sterling and to undermine the agency is to undermine Congress. Since 2000, GAO recommended Congress consider more than 1,100 matters, 80 percent of those items are closed, saving taxpayers billions. CBO is an honest scorekeeper that plays by Congress's rules. Shooting the messengers when their truths are politically inconvenient is the best way to ensure they're not around when you need them.
Additional things to watch: efforts to protect the Legislative branch's agencies from Executive branch meddling. Susan Collins has views on how to build a firewall.
Lots of member-related news.
Sen. Fetterman is struggling on the job.
The nearly 88-year old Eleanor Holmes Norton has lost her fastball and is the subject of an increasingly public campaign to nudge her to not seek reelection.
Rep. Mary Miller made bigoted tweets about Giani Singh, who led morning prayers for the House, complaining first a "Muslim" shouldn't be allowed to lead prayers, and then correcting it to say a "Sikh" shouldn't be allowed to lead prayers. All the while she asserted that America was founded as a Christian nation. In addition to whatever punish the House may meet out, she should be required to read and write a report on "Religion and the American Constitutional Experiment," by John Witte. Or maybe "When Rabbis Bless Congress."
The Ethics Committee released an Office of Congressional Compliance report on Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (because the Ethics Committee still hasn't acted on the OCC referral). The OCC alleges Cherfilus-McCormick requested an earmark for a for-profit entity; accepted campaign contributions linked to an official action; made payments to an entity in violation of House committee rules; dispensed special favors to friends; and misreported campaign contributions.
"More than a dozen high-ranking executive branch officials and congressional aides made well-timed trades… most of them selling stock before the market plunged amid fears that Trump's tariffs would set off a global trade war," according to ProPublica.
Maybe the Canadians are smart to consider whether they should have the power to remove the Prime Minister before he is ensconced in office.
Congratulations to newly-named Capitol Police Chief Michael Sullivan. I noticed that in much of the news coverage of the outgoing police chief, no outside experts were quoted to assess whether the USCP has been sufficiently transformed. Outside of hill publications, there was little coverage at all – only 16 articles per a Google News search. This suggests to me that we're going back to the bad old times when press scrutiny of the nearly billion dollar agency was too light. Kudos to Roll Call's Justin Papp for asking the right question: why doesn't the Capitol Police break out its annual numbers on threats to identify how many of those threats to Members are substantiated? It's notable that the answer was a dodge.
Wonder of wonders, history of histories. The history of the Legislative branch is a wild and fascinating place. From time to time, committees charge historians and political scientists with writing about the way things were – a history of a particular committee, or an agency, or even the chamber. I've just finished reading Mosher's The GAO: the Quest For Accountability In American Government, which is good if a bit dry and dated (i.e., from 1979). So I started to wonder: how many of these histories exist and how up-to-date are they?
I began to compile my own list and do my research and then quickly reached out to the House and Senate historians. I compiled their lists, added some items I found, and published it here. Do we have your committee's history? Are we missing a link? Just hit reply and let me know what we're missing. Also, if your committee's history is more than a decade old, perhaps it's time to get it refreshed.
From AGI: Testimony calling for transparency for DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel opinions. Testimony urging improved Senate cybersecurity. 66 proposals for the FY 2026 appropriations bill. Closing the door on executive branch surveillance of Congress. A functional map of congressional independence.
Things I'm reading: the Congressional veto isn't dead by Soren Dayton. Lessons from the dissolution of Mexico's FOIA commissioner. Interring the Unitary Executive by Christine Kexel Chabot. The Existing and Potential Uses of National Language Processing in Parliaments by Grant Vergottini. Congress's Anti-Removal Power by Christopher Walker & Aaron Nielson (see page 68 for a helpful chart). Supreme Court Grant Emergency Motion on President’s Removal Power from CRS.
New from the Library of Congress
New USCP IG Reports
Review of the USCP Office of Professional Responsibility – 2020 report (released 5/20/25) – includes charges and outcomes of investigations from 2018-June 2020 for OPR complaints
Performance Audit of the USCP Transit Incentive Program – 2020 report (released 5/20/2025) – USCP lacked controls for ensuring benefits did not exceed the approved amount; 7 employees had parking and transit benefits
Performance Audit of the USCP Police Dignitary Protection Division Payroll Costs and Compliance with Annual Pay Limitations – 2019 report (released 5/20/25) – complied with biweekly pay limitations; yearly pay cap of $168,411
Performance Audit of the USCP interactions with individuals with disabilities – 2019 report (Released 5/20/2025) – different interpretations of when medical documentation is required
Assessment of USCP Workforce Diversity – 2018 report (released 5/20/2025) – as of September 2017, 2,166 employees, 22% women and 42% minority
Audit of USCP Security Services Bureau Selected contracts – 2018 report (released 5/20/2025) – adequate controls
Performance Audit of the USCP Compliances with Federal Employees' Compensation Act – 2017 report (released 5/20/2025) - did not have adequate controls for implementation and administration of workplace compensation program
Audit of the USCP Budget formulation process – 2020 report (released 5/20/2025) – in fy 2010 and 2011 improperly formulated budget submission; USCP does not have adequate controls over budget formulation process. Major problems
Property, Plant, and equipment and related accumulated depreciation as of September 30, 2007 (released 5/20/2025)