On a typical day, you can’t turn on the news without hearing someone say that Congress is broken. The implication is that this failure explains why the institution is inert and unresponsive to the American people.
There is often one element of this discussion: Congress is very confusing because its members cannot hear the American people, or even each other. I mean that is literally. Congressional personnel serve in thousands of district offices across the nation, and their communication technology does not match that of most businesses and even many homes.
District offices of members only connected to Safe Wifi Internet Service in 2023. Discussions between members and congressional staff were sometimes Cut at 40 minutes As some government workers relied on the free version of Zoom, according to a congressional testimony in March 2024.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDDB0CJerfu
The uses of the Information System Congress have been largely unchanged for decades, while the world has undergone an information revolution, integrating smartphones and the Internet into the daily personal and professional lives of people. The technologies that have Transformed Modern Life and political campaigning It is not yet available to improve the ability of congressional members after they win an office.
Slowly adapt
Like many institutions, Congress resists change; Only the Covid-19 pandemic pushed it Allow online audiences and billing introductions. By 2020, white boards, sticky notes and interns with scissors had ruled the halls of the congress.
Electronic signatures arrived on Capitol Hill in 2021 – more than two decades after Congress passed the Esign act Allow electronic signatures and records in business.
The nation spends about $ 10 million a year About technological innovation in the House of Representatives – the institution that declares war and pays all the bills of the federal government. That is only 1% of the quantitative theatrical fans spent to see ‶Hamilton“On Broadway since 2015.
It seems that the history of American democracy is attracting the public, but investing to make it work is less for the congress itself.
The Main Administrative Office in CongressIllegive personnel, which helps manage the operations of Congress, decides what kinds of technology can be used by members. These Internal rules There is to protect congress and national security, but that caution can also prevent new ways of using technology to better serve the public.
To find a happy medium between innovation and caution can result in a more lively public discourse.
Stefani Reynolds-Pool/Getty Images
Modernizing effort
Congress was Working to modernize himselfincluding experimentation with new ways to hear local voices in their districts, including collecting constitutional reactions In a a a standardized way This can be easily processed by computers.
The Natural Resources Committee was also an early adopter of technology for cooperative legislation. In 2020, members and committee members used a platform called Madison to work together to write and edit proposed Environmental Justice legislation with communities across the country that were hit by pollution.
Households also look at what is called Delirious technologywho uses specially designed websites to facilitate digital participation of Pairing collective human intelligence with Artificial intelligence. People post their ideas online and respond to others’ posts. Then the systems can screen and summary Posts so users Better understand each other’s prospects.
These systems can even handle mass group discussions involving many people who hold a wide range of positions on a a A vast set of things and interests. Overall, these technologies make people easier Find consent And Hears their voices of politicians in ways as politicians can understand and respond.
Governments in Finland,, the UK,, Canada And Brazil Already piloting delusional technologies. In Finland, about one -third of young people between 12 and 17 participate in setting up budget priorities for the City of Helsinki.
In May 2024, 45 US nonprofit organizations signed Letter to congress asking that Delirious technology Platforms should be included in the approved tools for civic engagement.
In the meantime the congress is watching ways of using artificial intelligence As part of more Integrated digital strategy Based on lessons from others Democratic legislations.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htz0mpgpy74
To find benefits
Modernizing efforts opened links within the congress and with the public. For example, audiences held by a video conference during the pandemic enabled witnesses to share expertise with the congress from afar and open process notably unrelenting. I was home in rural New -Mexico during the pandemic and know three people who remotely testified Tribal education,, Metana pollution And Environmental damage of abandoned oil -wells.
New House rules Passed on January 3, 2025, encourage the use of artificial intelligence in daily operations and allow evidence of a remote witness.
Other efforts that are new to the congress, but long established in business and personal settings, include the capacity Track changes in legislation and a planning feature that reduces overlaps in meetings. Members are regularly planned be two places at a time.
Another effort in development is Internal Digital Staff that replaces Expensive folders compiled by private companies by assembling contact information for congressional staff.
The way forward
In 2022, what is now called ”Member-directed expense“Returned to Congress with some digital improvements. Formerly known as “arrangements”, this is the practice of allowing members of the congress Handsy Specific Projects in their home districts to receive federal money. Arrangements were abolished in 2011 in the middle of concerns about abuse and opposition by fiscal hardware. Their return and rebranding of 2022 Publicly available project listsethical rules and Search engine to track The expense as efforts to provide public transparency on assignments.
Further reforms could make the federal government Even more responsive to the American people.
Some recent improvements already know. Just as clients can follow their spicy delivery from the oven to the door, Congress at the end of 2024 created Flag tracking program that has dramatically improved Program This allows voters to receive a flag that flew over the US Capitol. Previously, different procedures in the room and Senate caused time snakes in this delivery system.
Ultimately, the world’s most powerful legislative period has captured Pizza Hut, who had mined this technology in 2017 To track the pizzas from customers from the store to the delivery driver to his front door.
Lorelei KellyResearch guide, modernizing congress, McCourt School of Public Policy, Georgetown University
This article is republished by The conversation under license on creative community. Read the Original article.
