Last week, I wrote that the Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee had restored the funding for the Office of Technology Assessment, a nonpartisan technology research agency that was defunded in 1995. Initially we were told that the subcommittee reestablished the OTA with $2.5 million in funding but as more information has come out I have to change what was reported last week. According to Technology Daily's Aliya Sternstein, the $2.5 million appropriated by the subcommittee was directed to the General Accounting Office to do technology studies. This is still a great step forward as the GAO is respected for its research and, unlike CRS, posts all of its research online for the general public. This is a great victory for anyone wants members of Congress to have access to the best technology research available. The Sunlight Foundation is especially excited about future reports on how Internt techonology can improve the way Congress relates to the public. If you want to look at what these reports might look like check out this OTA report from 1988 titled, "Informing the Nation: Federal Information Dissemination in an Electronic Age."
Continue readingOTA Renewed, Gets $2.5 Million
Lawmakers renewed funding for the Office of Technology Assessment yesterday at a markup for the Legislative Branch Appropriations bill. We don't have full details yet but the subcommittee approved $2.5 million to reestablish the OTA, which will provide nonpartisan technological and scientific research to members of Congress and the general public. Congress has finally reversed what science blogger Chris Mooney called a "stunning act of self-lobotomy." Let us all rejoice in knowing that Congress has its brain back again. This will hopefully bring new research that will support our mission to use Internet technologies to make the Congress more open, transparent, and accessible to the public.
Continue readingTwittering All Public Laws
Someone has finally made a useful feed of information with Twitter. Twitter is mostly a collection of people's every minute musings about what they are doing at that very minute ("I'm twittering"). It's sort of an RSS feed of poems from the Zenrin Kushu ("Sitting quietly, doing nothing. Spring comes, and the grass grows by itself"). Josh Ruihley, from Sunlight Labs, however, decided to do something useful with Twitter and created the first Twitter feed of U.S. Public Laws. Everyday new laws are introduced in Congress and with the Public Laws Twitter feed you can now stream the laws introduced in Congress onto a widget on your blog or keep track of the laws for your own purposes through the Twitter feed or through RSS. Check it out.
Continue readingPelosi to Allow Outside Groups to File Ethics Complaints
Over the past two days The Hill and Congressional Quarterly have reported that Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) intends to allow outside groups to file ethics complaints against members of Congress. This would be a restoration of the policy that was abolished in 1997. Since 1997 only sitting members of Congress have been allowed to file ethics complaints. This policy led to an ethics truce between the two parties where an ethics complaint to the Committee by one party would result in retaliation by the opposing party. The truce has effectively shut down all internal accountability in the House of Representatives. Allowing citizens and organizations to take part in the ethics process in Congress is not only a sensible way to engage the public in yet another part of government but it also is a good policy in terms of reducing ethics violations and corruption.
Continue readingSunlight Endorses OTA; Markup Pushed to Wednesday
The Sunlight Foundation has sent a letter endorsing a renewed Office of Techonology Assessment to Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Zach Wamp. Wasserman Schultz was supposed to hold a markup today that would have addressed the OTA but it has been pushed back to Wednesday. That means you still have time to contact your member of Congress and let them know that you support the OTA and that they should send the "Dear Colleague" letter they received from Reps. Rush Holt and Michael Castle to Wasserman Schultz and Wamp. Check out this blog post from last week for full directions on how you can get involved. The endorsement letter is below the fold:
Continue readingRep. Jefferson Indicted Over Corrupt Nigerian Phone Scam
Update: CREW has the indictment. If you've got time take a look. It's 94 pages long.
Today, a Virginia grand jury indicted 9-term Louisiana congressman William Jefferson (D-LA) on 16 counts including racketeering, solicitation of bribes, honest services wire fraud, money laundering, obstruction of justice, violating the foreign corrupt practices act, and conspiracy. Jefferson is accused of accepting bribes and conspiring to bribe Nigerian government officials to promote a telephone business venture. The conspiracy involved two U.S.-based companies, iGate and W2 Corp. The head of iGate, Vernon Jackson, has already pled guilty and been sentenced to more than seven years in prison. The business conspiracy was upended when W2 head Lori Mody flipped to the FBI after allegedly being cheated out of her business by Jefferson, Jackson, and Jefferson's family. Mody handed over key information to the FBI and wore a wire, catching Jefferson admitting to the conspiracy on tape. If all of this evidence wasn't enough for Jefferson, the FBI raid on his house in Louisiana netted $90,000 in cash hidden away in the congressman's freezer.
Continue readingWhat’s McConnell Hiding?
Today, the Sunlight Foundation launched a new campaign to reveal which senator is blocking passage of the Senate Campaign Disparity Act (S. 223). If you’ve been following this story here you know that twice this bill - which would require senators to file their campaign finance reports electronically - has been blocked by an anonymous Republican senator who is being hidden by Sen. Mitch McConnell. In his home state of Kentucky we are launching a billboard and a Web site to force McConnell to reveal the name of the anonymous senator. The Louisville Courier-Journal and the Politico have already picked up the story. Check out What’s McConnell Hiding? for more details or continue reading below the fold. We have a number of ways for you to get involved.
Tell Your Congressman to Support the OTA
In 1995 Congress defunded the Office of Technology Assessment, a nonpartisan scientific and technology research arm of Congress. Today, two congressmen are trying to bring it back. Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) and Rep. Michael Castle (R-DE) need your help to reinstate this important institution in Congress. The OTA would provide nonpartisan research on technology issues ranging from energy independence to net neutrality. Here at Sunlight we are especially excited about the reinstatement of OTA as it would provide members of Congress with assessment of the technology infrastructure within Congress itself. The OTA would also put all of its research online for everyone to access.
On Monday, the Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee will hold a markup that will address the OTA. We need you to call your member of Congress and tell them to 1) support the reinstatement of the OTA and 2) to sign the Dear Colleague letter that they received from Reps. Rush Holt and Michael Castle and return it to Reps. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and Zach Wamp. When Congress defunded the OTA one of its supporters, Rep. Amo Houghton (R-NY), said, "Members of Congress are deluged with advice from many quarters, but it is often tinged with the underlying bias and political agenda of the bearer. ... We are cutting off one of the most important arms of Congress when we cut off unbiased knowledge about science and technology." It's time to bring back the OTA and unbiased research on science and technology. Call your congressman now!
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Sen. Jon Kyl: Afraid of Open Government
Sometimes senators admit that they are holding a particular piece of legislation. In this case, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) admitted that he is the one blocking passage of the OPEN Government Act, a FOIA improving bill cosponsored by Sens. Pat Leahy (D-VT) and John Cornyn (R-TX). Kyl states that the bill would require the Justice Department to release sensitive data related to law enforcement and that the "uncharacteristically strong" opposition to the bill from Justice is reason enough to block the bill. According to the AP, the Justice Department is concerned about "a section that would eliminate exemptions allowing the government to deny access to privileged or law-enforcement sensitive information." Sen. Leahy assailed the hold that Kyl is using to block the bill, "This is a good government bill that Democrats and Republicans alike can and should work together to enact. It should be passed without further delay." The same goes for the Senate Campaign Disparity Act (S. 223). If Kyl can fess up to holding an open government bill then Mitch McConnell can cough up the names of the anonymous senators blocking S. 223 from passing.
Continue readingHelp Identify Mystery PACs
Got some spare time? Want to get involved in a little open source watchdogging project? Our friends at the Center for Responsive Politics are asking users to research a list of "mystery PACs," or leadership political action committees that appear to be affiliated with a member of Congress but do not explicitly say so. Leadership PACs do not have to disclose the identity of an affiliated member of Congress. There's a bill in Congress, HR 347, sponsored by Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC), that would end this secretive process. While we wait for this bill to get a hearing in the House you can research these PACs yourself. If you need a little help in getting started, Bill Allison, at the Real Time Investigations blog, writes up a good summary of how he researched one of mystery PACs. And if you're feeling in a good mood and want to contribute your findings to another resource, Congresspedia has a great page on political action committees that lists many of the leadership PACs currently active. Feel free to add your findings to the list. Definitely go and help out CRP uncover the members of Congress behind these mystery PACs.
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