Here is Friday’s look at transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings, transparency-related bills introduced in Congress, and transparency-related events.

News Roundup:

• Rep. Rob Bishop (R-UT), the head of the House Rules Working Group, on Thursday said the GOP transition team will recommend the adoption of a rule requiring lawmakers to provide constitutional authority for every bill. (The Hill)
• Senate Democrats continued to struggle Thursday with whether and how to change rules for the chamber as well as their own caucus. (Roll Call $)
• Incoming Speaker Boehner (R-OH) announced that he will not retain the current Clerk of the House, but instead nominate longtime GOP aide Karen Haas to assume the post. (Roll Call$)
• House Democrats chose Elijah Cummings as their ranking member of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee Thursday over Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) in a vote of 119-61. (The Hill)(Roll Call $)
• The ethics probe into Rep. Waters (D-CA) has disintegrated due to the ethics panel’s infighting over errors in putting the case together. (Washington Post)
• Facing a GOP filibuster of the spending bill, Senate Majority Leader Reid announced that he would stop trying to pass it and would instead try to put through a short-term continuing resolution to authorize the minimum to keep the government running. (Roll Call $)(Daily Caller)
• Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) will be the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee. (The Hill)
• Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) will keep the top Democratic slot on the defense spending subcommittee while serving as the ranking member of the full Appropriations Committee. (The Hill)
• TARP oversight panel considers TARP a success financially, but other results are mixed. (The Hill)
• Senate Majority Leader Reid calls Republicans hypocrites for opposing earmarks, saying that earmarks are part of Congress’s constitutional responsibility to direct spending. (Washington Times)(Daily Caller)
• As campaign spending reaches record highs, FCC penalties seem to be weakening. (Public Integrity)
• A reportby a group of leading scientists and engineers said only a substantial fraction of the estimated $4 billion federal agencies get for IT research and development actually goes for those purposes. (Federal Computer Week)

Relevant committee hearings scheduled for 12/17:

• None.

Relevant bills introduced:

• None.

Transparency events scheduled for 12/17:

• None.