Daniel Schuman is the Executive Director of the American Governance Institute, a nonpartisan nonprofit dedicated to strengthening the institutions of American democracy.

A nationally recognized authority on the federal government, Daniel has built a career advancing accountability, transparency, and reform across all branches. His work centers on strengthening Congress, ensuring effective checks on executive power, modernizing government technology, professionalizing the legislative branch workforce, improving ethics and oversight processes, and empowering civil society to make government more responsive to the people it serves.

Daniel is widely regarded for his deep expertise in congressional operations, the appropriations process, legislative rules and procedures, and the broader architecture of government accountability.

He is the founder and editor of the First Branch Forecast, a widely read weekly newsletter on congressional capacity and oversight. He has spearheaded the creation and improvement of numerous federal transparency tools, including EveryCRSReport.com, which opened public access to more than 20,000 Congressional Research Service reports. Daniel also co-founded the Congressional Data Coalition, co-directs the Advisory Committee on Transparency, and convenes the OpenGov Roundtable, a longstanding civil-society forum on government reform. He also serves as an instructor in the Data Skills for Congress certificate program at the University of California, Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy.

Daniel frequently testifies before Congress and advises policymakers, journalists, and advocates on issues of transparency and modernization. His insights and initiatives have been featured in outlets including The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, Roll Call, Politico, FedScoop, Wired, The Hill, and C-SPAN.

He earned his B.A. in political science and philosophy and his J.D. from Emory University.