Daniel Schuman

Daniel Schuman is the Executive Director of the American Governance Institute, a non-profit organization focused on strengthening the institutions of American government. He is deeply involved in efforts to rebuild our democracy, which include: reforming Congress; providing appropriate checks on the Executive branch; strengthening mechanisms for federal governmental accountability, transparency, and reform; modernizing government technology for improved responsiveness, accountability, and efficiency; professionalizing federal employees; improving government ethics processes; empowering civil society; and ensuring that the people’s voices can be heard.

Daniel is a nationally recognized expert on the federal government. He is known in particular for his expertise with respect to the appropriations process, Legislative branch operations, and congressional rules and procedures. Daniel has testified before Congress on government accountability, transparency, modernization, and operations, and his work has been covered by the New York Times, the Washington Post, NPR, Roll Call, Politico, FedScoop, Wired, The Hill, C-SPAN, and other news outlets. He was named by the Washingtonian Magazine in 2022 as one of Washington DC’s 500 most influential people. In 2013, he was named by FedScoop as one of the top 25 most influential people under 40 in gov and tech. Daniel has lectured twice on congressional information in Data Skills for Congress, a certificate program at the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley, and is a former CodeX fellow at Stanford University.

Daniel is the founder and an editor of the First Branch Forecast, a weekly newsletter that covers government accountability and transparency, with a focus on Congress and its interactions with the Executive branch. He is responsible for the creation or improvement of many federal government transparency and accountability websites, and created EveryCRSReport.com, containing 20,000 Congressional Research Service Reports. He is a co-founder of the Congressional Data Coalition, co-directs the Advisory Committee on Transparency, and coordinates the OpenGov Roundtable.

Daniel previously worked as is governance director of the POPVOX Foundation, policy director at Demand Progress Action & Demand Progress Education Fund, and policy director for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. He was policy counsel at the Sunlight Foundation, and a legislative attorney with the Congressional Research Service. Daniel graduated cum laude from Emory University School of Law where he was a Ruth and Paul McLarty scholar. He also worked at the Constitution Project, the American Constitution Society, the House of Representatives, and the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association.