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Witnesses push wide-ranging modernization for Congress: data officers, report access and oversight tools
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Summary
Multiple witnesses told the subcommittee that Congress should invest in institutional data capacity, better public access to agency and CRS reports, a chief data officer, stronger reporting for House modernization funds, and other transparency measures to improve oversight and efficiency.
A series of witnesses at the House Appropriations Subcommittee's fiscal year 2026 public witness hearing urged investments to improve congressional capacity for oversight, information access and modernization.
Speakers representing think tanks, nonprofit organizations and advocacy projects outlined a package of proposals that included creating a legislative-branch chief data officer (CDO), expanding public access to agency and Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports, restoring House modernization account funding, and improving the public-facing information produced by House offices.
Nick Hart, president and CEO of the Data Foundation, told the subcommittee Congress should "establish a chief data officer function within the legislative branch as part of the current appropriations process" to coordinate data catalogs, enable privacy‑preserving technologies, and reduce duplication across offices. "A congressional CDO can help coordinate this existing data function without replacing a lot of the great work that's already happening," he said.
Daniel Schuman, executive director of the American Governance Institute, recommended that the clerk's office be directed and funded to compile a comprehensive list of reports that federal agencies are required to deliver to committees, subcommittees, the House and the Senate. Schuman told the panel the clerk would need roughly two executive communication clerks — "that's about $350,000" — or an equivalent technology solution to create and maintain the list so Congress and the public can find agency reports required by law.
Antoine McGrath, creator of CRSreports.com, urged the subcommittee to ensure historical, unclassified Congressional Research Service reports locked in internal systems are released to the public in accordance with the Equal Access to Congressional Research Service Act. "Providing clarity around historical CRS reports is a high impact step that fulfills the spirit of the law," he said.
Jadiraki, a senior policy analyst at the Bipartisan Policy Center's Structural Democracy Project, asked the committee to appropriate $10,000,000 for the House modernization initiatives account in FY2026 and to include report language recreating reporting requirements for recipients of those funds. He said the account has supported programs such as case compass and committee portals and that standardized reporting would increase accountability.
Dan Lipps, senior fellow at the Foundation for American Innovation, recommended Congress require the Congressional Budget Office to estimate the budgetary effects of implementing open Government Accountability Office recommendations and also suggested GAO employ artificial intelligence to identify outdated regulatory language. Lipps cited the GAO Database Modernization Act as context for expanding GAO's role.
Other witnesses urged transparency improvements for House legal functions and administrative operations. Mike Stern, who served in the House General Counsel's office, recommended enhancing the public-facing House General Counsel website and moving nonconfidential information from internal tabs to public pages to improve understanding of the House's legal positions. Jim Townsend of the Carl Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy advocated for bipartisan committee websites and administrative staff practices to reduce partisanship and resource duplication.
Danielle Stewart of the Pop Fox Foundation recommended a CAO feasibility study to establish a House casework support office to assist with surging constituent service demands, exploration of secure remote voting technologies for continuity of operations, and institution‑wide AI training resources for members and staff.
Witnesses presented these proposals as discrete but complementary steps to strengthen congressional oversight, transparency and operational capacity. The subcommittee did not take formal votes on any of the proposals during the hearing; members may follow up with requests for the record or consider those recommendations during the appropriations drafting process.
