FEDERALhearing transcript

How Congress Uses Data to Make Better Laws

Original title: STRENGTHENING THE LAWMAKING PROCESS: HOW DATA CAN INFORM AND IMPROVE POLICY

January 1, 2022

congressional reform data-driven policy evidence-based policymaking government transparency federal agency data

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The Frame

What this does

This hearing focuses on changing how Congress evaluates federal programs, potentially shifting how billions in taxpayer dollars are allocated by prioritizing objective data over traditional legislative methods.

Who is mentioned in the record

Potentially affected actors named in the source documents. Mention is not a position.

Federal Support Agencies (CRS, CBO, GAO)

These agencies are tasked with providing impartial information and require improved access to federal data to fulfill their mandates.

Federal Agencies

Agencies are required to maintain data inventories and provide public access to data under the Evidence-Based Policymaking Act.

What changed

Last recorded activity January 1, 2022.

What's next

Next step not available in the current record.

Summary

The Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress held a hearing to discuss how federal agencies and lawmakers can better use data to evaluate government programs and improve the lawmaking process. The committee explored ways to make government data more accessible, user-friendly, and useful for evidence-based decision-making.

Key Facts

The hearing took place on October 27, 2021, in the Rayburn House Office Building.
The committee utilized flexible hearing rules allowing for up to 30 minutes of extended questioning per witness.
The hearing focused on the 'Evidence-Based Policymaking Act' and the 'OPEN Government Data Act' as foundational frameworks.
The committee discussed the need for federal support agencies (CRS, CBO, GAO) to have better access to agency data.
The committee discussed using data to identify why government programs are underutilized rather than automatically cutting funding.
The committee discussed the importance of measuring 'return on investment' for federal programs rather than just total spending.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the goal of this committee hearing?

The goal is to identify ways for Congress to incorporate objective data and evidence into the lawmaking and program evaluation process.

Why does Congress need better access to federal data?

To allow support agencies like the CBO and GAO to provide more accurate, impartial information to lawmakers about the effectiveness of federal programs.

Why It Matters

News Coverage

No news coverage found yet. Articles are indexed twice daily.

Discoveries

Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.

policy shift90% confidence

Shift toward evidence-based evaluation

The committee is explicitly moving away from simple budget-cutting toward using data to diagnose and fix underperforming programs.

Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress

Connected Entities

organizationSelect Committee on the Modernization of Congress“The committee hosting the hearing.”Map →

personNick Hart“Witness, President of Data Foundation.”Map →

personWilliam Timmons“Vice Chairman of the committee.”Map →

personTara McGuinness“Witness, Fellow at New America.”Map →

personDerek Kilmer“Chairman of the committee.”Map →

personPoppy MacDonald“Witness, President of USAFacts.”Map →

Sources

Open source document

www.govinfo.gov

Analysis Score

0–100

Significance40
How much this matters to a regular citizen
Controversy10
Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
Entertainment5
Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
Buzz10
Current news / social attention level

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