On the heels of the most expensive campaign in the nation's history, members of the House and the candidates who want to replace them are already raking in cash for the 2014 mid-terms. In the first three months of 2013, they collected a total of $68 million, records just submitted to the Federal Election Commission show.
Most of the biggest fundraisers are party leaders, topped by House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va. Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., a senior member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, came in third. But Aaron Schock, a three-term Illinois ...
House Convenes Second Public Meeting on Legislative Bulk Data
On January 30th, the House of Representatives held a public meeting on its efforts to release more legislative information to the public in ways that facilitate its reuse. This was the second meeting hosted by the Bulk Data Task Force where members of the public were included; it began privately meeting in September 2012. (Sunlight and others made a presentation at a meeting, in October, on providing bulk access to legislative data.) This public meeting, organized by the Clerk's office, is a welcome manifestation of the consensus of political leaders of both parties in the House that now is the time to push Congress' legislative information sharing technology into the 21st century. In other words, it's time to open up Congress. The meeting featured three presentations on ongoing initiatives, allowed for robust Q&A, and highlighted improvements expected to be rolled out of the next few months. In addition, the House recorded the presentations and has made the video available to the public. The ongoing initiatives are the release of bill text bulk data by GPO, the addition of committee information for docs.house.gov, and the release on floor summary bulk data. It's expected that these public meetings will continue at least as frequently as once per quarter, or more often when prompted by new releases of information. As part of the introductory remarks, the House's Deputy Clerk explained that a report had been generated by the Task Force at the end of the 112th Congress on bulk access to legislative data and was submitted to the House Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee. It's likely that the report's recommendations will become public as part of the committee's hearings on the FY 2014 Appropriations Bill, at which time the public should have an opportunity to comment.
Continue readingAccess to Legislation Gets Better, Promise of More to Come
Earlier today, Speaker Boehner and Majority Leader Cantor and the Government Printing Office announced an improvement in how legislation is made publicly available. Starting in the 113th Congress, GPO will make all bills available for bulk download in XML format. While this doesn't change much from a technological perspective, it does mark a significant change from a policy perspective.
Continue readingIn GOP leadership race, McMorris Rodgers has the dough behind her
It looks like the Republican establishment will win one and lose one as it heads into leadership elections today on Capitol Hill. As always, campaign fundraising is playing a major role in the contests.
In the Senate, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., failed to convince two fundraising powerhouses, Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Rob Portman, R-Ohio -- two men that may be eyeing a run at the White House in 2016 -- to take on the task of raising money for the 2014 crop of GOP Senate candidates. That means the job is likely to go to Sen. Jerry Moran, a Kansan who has cultivated ties to the Tea Party. The Hill is reporting that some have questioned Moran's ability to raise the necessary stockpiles of cash.
Continue readingGOP convention through the eyes of Sunlight Live
If you missed Sunlight Live's coverage of the Republican National Convention in Tampa last night, you missed a lot. A Wordle cloud of most-used terms from the speeches is above; below, a synopsis of some of Sunlight's observations, data and analysis, which our Sunlight Live tool allows us to provide to you on the same computer screen where you are watching a video stream of the convention proceedings.
Be sure to tune in tonight for our coverage of the second night. A few highlights from last night, whose theme was alternately you didn't build that, we did ...
Continue readingSunlight Live covers the conventions
Republican conventioneers may have dodged Tropical Storm Isaac. Now they're facing another challenge: Sunlight at night.
Throughout this week's GOP convention in Tampa and next week's Democratic gathering in Charlotte, the Sunlight Foundation will be covering major speakers with a tool that will allow us -- and you -- to provide real-time commentary and analysis.
Starting at 7 p.m. ET, we'll open up our Sunlight Live website, where you can watch a video stream of the convention and, at the same time, read information and background about the speakers and their themes, mined from the Sunlight Foundation ...
Continue readingHow to #FreeTHOMAS: A report on implementing bulk access
Today we are pleased to release a report on improving public access to legislative information. The report (PDF, DOC, ODT) is the result of a collaborative effort that was prompted by the House Leadership's recent statement endorsing bulk access and the questions raised in a committee report accompanying the House Legislative Branch Appropriations Bill.
Continue readingTight rules preclude reporting charitable donations to Speaker’s pet charity
With Americans saying that reducing federal corruption is now their second most important campaign issue, it's worth looking at how well a 2007 law designed to curb corruption is holding up.
Continue readingSpecial interests honor Congress, executive branch with nearly $19 million in 2011
Spurred by reports that Smartphone software made by Google and Apple could violate users' privacy, a Senate Judiciary subcommittee called executives from the companies to testify in May 2011. For the most part, the senators were uncharacteristically deferential to the hi-tech titans appearing before their panel. In his brief opening statement, ranking member Tom Coburn, R-Okla., said, “We need a whole lot more information and knowledge in terms of those of us on the legislative side before we come to conclusions about what needs to be done.”
One day later, Coburn was recognized at a Consumer Electronics Association event for ...
Continue readingMajor Transparency Milestone in Bulk Access Statement
It may feel like an ordinary Wednesday, but today is a milestone for legislative transparency. The House’s leadership has issued... View Article
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