Report: Congress embracing digital tools
WASHINGTON — Congress has ramped up email newsletter frequency, videoconferencing and telephone town halls to stay connected to constituents as the coronavirus pandemic transforms daily life. And a new report suggests some of those shifts could be here to stay.
The Congressional Management Foundation on Friday released a report, “The Future of Citizen Engagement: Coronavirus, Congress, and Constituent Communications,” that explores how congressional offices have implemented changes to operations and constituent engagement in response to COVID-19.
According to the group’s research, because of the move to remote work and tight restrictions on in-person meetings on Capitol Hill, lawmakers and their staff are embracing new technologies, while also depending more heavily on established ones, to keep in contact with constituents and advocates.
“While we are currently in flux, the COVID-19 crisis is offering (or forcing) new opportunities for Congress, citizens, and the groups that represent them to consider how to build new tools and systems for democratic communication,” report authors Kathy Goldschmidt and Bradley Joseph Sinkaus write.
The report compared the significant shift in communication happening today to when 9/11 and the 2001 anthrax attacks on Capitol Hill interrupted the mail system in Congress, accelerating the adoption of email.
The authors predict communications changes put in place during this crisis and expectations of digital outreach may hold fast, just like emails continued to flood Capitol Hill even after the postal mail system for Congress was restored in 2002.
“COVID-19 has forced Members of Congress and staff (some of whom have been fairly resistant to or unfamiliar with modern technologies) to quickly learn how to work remotely,” Goldschmidt and Sinkaus write.
Between May 26 and July 23, the foundation sent surveys to senior congressional staff, and heard back from 128 of them. Of that group, 13 were interviewed for more detailed responses. During the same time frame, but with no coordination, CQ Roll Call was regularly talking to lawmakers about staffing and technology changes they had made because of the pandemic.