{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.speaker.gov/press-release/congress-passes-bipartisan-ryan-murray-evidence-based-policy-bill", "Bipartisan Ryan-Murray Evidence-Based Policy Bill to Become Law", "2018-12-21", "2018", "2018-12", "Republican", "House", "WI", "Paul Ryan", "R000570", "www.speaker.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTONThe House has passed H.R. 4174, the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act, bipartisan, bicameral legislation authored by House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Senator Patty Murray (D-WA). This measure, set to become law, culminates years of work to make better use of data, improving the way government solves entrenched problems. It is a critical piece of Speaker Ryan's agenda to tackle intergenerational poverty. Speaker Ryan offered the following thoughts: Good policy is often about asking the right questions. After the 2012 election, we started working on a poverty and opportunity agenda. We found Washington was stuck in some old ways of thinking, particularly when it came to rewarding efforts instead of results. Much of the focus was on how much we are spending, not whether people are truly being helped. So we asked ourselves: How do we move from inputs to outputs, and then ultimately to outcomes? How can government better test whether something is actually working, and make decisions based on that information? Unsurprisingly, we found out that it was awfully complicated. So, Patty Murray and I put together a bipartisan bill to encourage more policymaking based on evidence, based on data. That bill established a commission to look at everything and determine how we could do this in a way that protects privacy and emphasizes results. The commission, which shares in today's success, did an incredible amount of work in a short period of time to advance this cause. Patty and I then put the commission's recommendations into a second bipartisan bill, and Congress passed it this week. I am deeply grateful to Patty for the chance to work together with her on this. Now we move into the implementation phase. We need to keep building up the government's ability to streamline access to this data. We need to ensure the data is being used not just to inform, but to evaluate. Some agencies are already on the right track; some agencies are nowhere near the track. The next five years will be pivotal. What I'm excited about is that this really could lead to a sea change in how we solve problems to make things better for people. An evidence-based way to advance the American Ideait could do a lot of good to improve people's lives. \nTimeline: How Evidence-Based Policymaking Became Law\n April 2015: Then-Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) introduce the Evidence-Based Policymaking Act, which establishes a commission to study how best to expand the use of data to evaluate the effectiveness of federal programs.\n\t\t\n\tMarch 2016: Congress completes work on the Evidence-Based Policymaking Act.\n\t\t\n\tJuly 2016: The Evidence-Based Policy Commission holds its first meeting. The panel is comprised of leading researchers and social scientists to conduct an inventory of the data the government collects and to determine the best methods for policymakers to make use of that information.\n\t\t\n\tSeptember 2017: The commission releases its final report, laying out a series of recommendations for improving confidential data access, modernizing privacy protections, and strengthening federal evidence-building capacity. At a press conference with Sen. Murray, Speaker Ryan pledges to act on the commission's recommendations, saying, it's about changing our approach so we can actually change the status quo, and improve people's lives.\n\t\t\n\tNovember 2017: Speaker Ryan and Sen. Murray introduce the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act, codifying the commission's recommendations. This is an exciting day, Speaker Ryan says after the bill's introduction. Patty and I have long advocated for a way to better measure the federal government's effectivenessand this bill puts those efforts into action.\n\t\t\n\tDecember 2018: Congress sends the bipartisan Foundations forEvidence-Based Policymaking Act to the president's desk.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.speaker.gov/press-release/congress-passes-bipartisan-ryan-murray-evidence-based-policy-bill"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7257917895913124, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}