NEWS ROUNDUP:

• The House unanimously passed a bill that would give the GAO stronger investigative and audit authorities. The GAO Improvement Act will give the GAO broader access to sensitive agency information, allow it to copy records, and place witnesses under certain oaths. Many provisions had been part of the DATA act, which passed the House but failed in the Senate during the 112th Congress. (Government Executive)
• There are some not-so-shocking first quarter fundraising totals coming in from members of the House Financial Services Committee. Members of the committee can typically count on generous donations from banking interests. (Roll Call)
• San Francisco considers itself a leader in open data and the city is finally getting Bikeshare, a program that benefits significantly from robust open data. Companies will be able to build apps that track bikes, predict demand, and more. (GovFresh)
• One of the most important ways that government can boost communication with citizens is to present information in clear, easily understandable language. To this end, the Center for Plain Language has bestowed ClearMark awards on several federal agencies for their web and document design. (Government Executive)
• Journalists trying to gain access to legal documents and court orders in the Bradley Manning case were rebuffed by the military's highest appeals court earlier this week. The court ruled that it lacks the power to consider media challenges to other military judges' rulings on access to court materials. (POLITICO)
• The Digital Public Library of America is launching its new website and officially becoming an independent nonprofit today. Rather than hosting resources itself, the DPLA will provide open access to metadata about resources and links to holdings at libraries across the country. (Government Technology)

NEWS ROUNDUP:

• It might take a few weeks for Senate campaign fundraising reports to make it to the FEC, but that isn't stopping members with good news from shouting it from the rooftops. Specifically, several vulnerable incumbent Democrats who are expecting well financed challengers in addition to massive independent expenditures against them announced heft hauls... (Roll Call)
• ...meanwhile, a number of vulnerable members of the House, as well as a few who are hoping to make a jump to the Senate in 2014, posted less than stellar numbers...  (Roll Call)
• ...finally, President Obama may never have to run in another election again, but he hasn't yet kicked the fundraising habit. The Obama presidential campaign pulled in over $4 million in the last quarter, leaving it with around $3 million on hand and owing slightly more in debts. (Roll Call)
• Senator Ron Wyden's long-time Chief of Staff Josh Kardon, who left the hill in 2011 for the Capitol Hill Consulting Group, is going to be plying his trade for ExxonMobil. Wyden chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. (The Hill)
• Organizing For America is testing out its lobbying operation in New York State, where it is pushing for significant campaign finance reforms. They don't plan to lobby elected officials directly, but will organize their significant member base in the state to influence the issue. (POLITICO)
• Google has been careful to avoid taking a public stance on CISPA, but that hasn't stopped them from trying to influence the bill behind the scenes. Recent lobbying disclosures indicate that Google has been working on the bill and House Intelligence Chairman Mike Rogers (R-MI) has been quoted calling the company "supportive" of CISPA. (The Hill)
• The House released a 244 page report outlining every committee's plans to oversee the executive branch during the 113th Congress. Hot topics include IT, taxes, and more. (Federal Computer Week)

NEWS ROUNDUP: The President of Estonia brought 16 crowdsourced ideas to parliament this week, tapping into laws generated through Rahvakogu,... View Article

NEWS ROUNDUP:

• The GAO's third annual report on duplication in the federal government includes and interesting tidbit on some freely available government data. It looks like the Commerce Department has been charging other agencies millions of dollars for reports from the National Technical Information Service even though 74 % of the NSIT's studies are easily accessible online. (Washington Times)
• Whoever ends up taking on Mitch McConnell in 2014 is going to need some serious fundraising chops. The Senate Minority Leader has raised almost $2 million so far this year and has a cool$8.6 million on hand. (Washington Post)
• Hundreds of hill staffers have locked their personal twitter accounts in response to last week's news that LegiStorm was aggregating them for a new product, StormFeed. (POLITICO)
• With Congress eyeing an overhaul of the tax-code the politicians likely to have major influence over the proceedings are making it clear that they intend to do some of the negotiating in secret, despite publicly stating that they plan to lead an "open and transparent" process. (The Hill)
• New Jersey Governor Chris Christie might not have any major competition for his reelection bid, but the potential candidate for the 2016 GOP nomination has attracted some negative attention from an outside spending group. One New Jersey is slated to spend $500,000 over two weeks on ads attacking Christie's record. (POLITICO)
• Yesterday a Senate Judiciary subcommittee heard testimony on campaign finance laws, specifically finding out why they have proven so hard to enforce recently. (NPR)

NEWS ROUNDUP:

• Ron Paul, who recently retired from Congress after mounting an unsuccessful bid for the GOP nomination last year, still has some Congressional campaign cash floating around. He's spending some of that money on other projects that he's started. Last month his campaign donated $150,000 to the Foundation for Rational Economics and Education. The group that he founded in 1976 is currently run by his wife. (Public Integrity)
• A new GAO report doesn't shed much light on the political intelligence industry. The report found that political intelligence is hard to define and complicated to regulate. The GAO might be hesitant to take a stand on the industry, but Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) are planning to introduce legislation that would institute disclosure requirements. (Federal Computer Week)
• According to a new report by the Housing and Urban Development department's IG, almost $700 million in federal aid for those hit by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita is unaccounted for. Most of the discrepancies stem from failure by more than 24,000 recipients to comply with the aid terms or provide sufficient documentation. (Government Executive)
• The Federal Reserve emerged from the primordial soup of federal law the same year that Justice Louis Brandeis argued for the cleansing properties of Sunlight. A century later, the central bank is taking small, but important, steps towards transparency. (Harvard Ethics Blog)
• Outside money is starting to heat up the New York Mayor's race. A group of labor unions and Democratic activists dropped $250,000 for a three week run of ads attacking city council Speaker Christine Quinn, the races presumed front runner. (New York Times)
• Last week President Obama unveiled a $100 million initiative to map the human brain, an initiative inspired in part by the Human Genome Project. It is yet to be known if the project will provide for open access. (Open Knowledge Blog)

NEWS ROUNDUP:

• Outfits like Ushahidi spent years building and sharing tools to help track election issues in advance of recent presidential elections in Kenya, hoping that they could help stem the violence that came along with the country's last election in 2007. While they can't take all the credit for relatively peaceful polls this year, their efforts were part of broader initiatives that seem to have worked. (Tech President)
• The FBI has taken advantage of rules in the PATRIOT act that allow them to send out "national security letters" that come along with gag orders, preventing their recipients from even talking about the existence of the letters. Recently, several tech companies have successfully pushed back about this closed process. First, the Electronic Frontier Foundation successfully sued, representing an unnamed telecom company, and now Google is taking on the practice. (Ars Technica)
• The IRS mistakenly revealed the names of a number of donors to the Republican Governors Association Public Policy Committee, a "nonprofit" that is supposed to be able to hide its donor list from public view. (Public Integrity)
• The House Judiciary Committee is sending Richard Hertling, its former chief counsel and staff director, through the revolving door. Hertling, who has also worked in the Senate and at the Justice department during the Bush administration, is joining Covington & Burling government affairs team. (The Hill)
• While the National Rifle Association gets most of the press and popular attention another group, Gun Owners of America, is emerging as a major force in opposition to new gun control legislation that is winding its way through the Senate. (New York Times)
• When the U.S Chamber of Commerce and Labor Unions came to agreement on visas for low-skilled workers the lane seemed open for a slam dunk for this immigration reform legislation. But, some business groups are unhappy with the deal and, led by the construction industry, appear poised to launch a lobbying press to block the deal.(POLITICO)
• Beards are booming among groups as diverse as urban hipsters and mountain men, but facial hair has been on a long decline in America's halls of power. Now there's a PAC aiming to reverse that trend. The Bearded Entrepreneurs for the Advancement of Responsible Democracy (BEARD) PAC recently registered with the FEC. Happy Friday and enjoy the accompanying slideshow! (National Journal)