by jpitney | Jul 14, 2020 | Congress, Coronavirus, Deliberation, Technology
Marci Harris, Claire Abernathy, and Kevin Esterling at Brookings: The chaos surrounding Congress’s switch to remote work in response to the COVID-19 pandemic laid bare weaknesses of Congress’s technical procedures and infrastructure, from its inability to hold...
by jpitney | May 18, 2020 | Congress, Coronavirus, Deliberation, Technology
Daniel Schuman and Amelia Strauss at First Branch Forecast: Congress is beginning to innovate around how it deliberates in committees and on the floor. These changes are driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has made in-person meetings unsafe and unwise,...
by jpitney | May 10, 2020 | China, Technology
From the Congressional Research Service: According to the National Science Foundation’s 2017 survey of STEM doctorate recipients from U.S. IHEs, 72% of foreign doctorate recipients were still in the United States 10 years after receiving their degrees. This percentage...
by jpitney | May 9, 2020 | Congress, Technology
Zach Graves at LegBranch.org writes on a new CRS report about the Office of Technology Assessment: The report looks at the pros and cons of five different approaches Congress could take: Reestablish OTA Without Changes to Its Statute Reestablish OTA with Changes to...
by jpitney | Apr 10, 2020 | Congress, Coronavirus, Technology
From the House Rules Committee: The constitutionality of remote voting is an untested principle. As a threshold question, this uncertainty should give the House pause from transitioning wholesale to any remote voting or “virtual presence” scheme of conducting...
by jpitney | Mar 20, 2020 | Congress, Coronavirus, Senate, Technology
A March 19 news release from Senator Rob Portman: Today, U.S. Senators Rob Portman (R-OH) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) introduced a bipartisan resolution to amend the Standing Rules of the Senate to allow senators to vote remotely during a national crisis. During certain...
