My colleague Anu Narayanswamy has written on House disbursements; interestingly, they figure in a footnote of Rep. Charles Rangel's defense against the charges leveled against him by the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct:
Members traditionally exercise broad discretion to determine what activities lie within the scope of their official duties. See 123 Cong. Rec. 5900 (daily ed. Mar. 2, 1977) (statement of Rep. Hamilton) (“There are essentially no rules and regulations” that define what is appropriately an official expense. “It is left up to the Members.”). The Standards Committee does not second-guess the reasonable judgments of a Member ...Continue reading
Rangel’s ethics defense, visualized
Searching Earmarks Isn’t Actually That Hard
Yesterday morning I watched the first markup session of the Earmark Transparency Act. The bill aims to create a comprehensive database of all earmark requests, not just approved earmarks. In its current version, there are over twenty required data elements, including free text descriptions and justifications of the earmark request, as well as related documents. The bill also calls for huge flexibility in the search interface and the API. Overall, it's a win for transparency and a big technical leap forward in terms of how the government thinks about releasing its data. It's biggest opponent in committee was Senator Carl Levin.
Continue readingRangel charged on 13 counts
The House Ethics Committee investigative subcommittee that has spent the past eighteen months investigating allegations of ethical impropriety against Rep.... View Article
Continue readingTools for Transparency: YouTube Direct
Online video has made quite a bit of progress since the early days of Quicktime and RealMedia, technologies so slugish... View Article
Continue readingUPDATEx2: Rangel DOES NOT cut a deal
Update 2: Rangel has not cut a deal. Adjudicatory subcommittee ranking member Mike McCaul just stated, “we are in the... View Article
Continue readingApps for THOMAS: 3 wishes
Last year I asked the internet gods for a URL shortener that created permanent links to legislation on THOMAS. Lo... View Article
Continue readingRangel and expulsion, part 3
At 1 pm the House Ethics Committee will hold a public meeting to reveal the ethics charges against Rep. Charlie... View Article
Continue readingNew to Netroots Nation
While the temperature in Las Vegas and Washington appeared similar during last week, the drastic divergence in humidity made the dry heat at Netroots Nation something to revel in.
Continue readingThe end of secret holds
We are another step closer to the end of secret holds in the Senate. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has... View Article
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