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Officials outline timeline to redesign congress.gov, cite search and clutter problems
Summary
Staff told the committee that congress.gov has become content-rich and cluttered, making search difficult for members and the public; the redesign began last year, user testing has occurred, and staff aim to complete validation by year-end with a new site in production next year.
A project presenter said the team has begun a multi-phase redesign of congress.gov to simplify search and make the site more intuitive for the public and congressional users. "We started that effort last year, and we're continuing it now," the presenter said, describing completed user interviews and a phased work plan.
The issue emerged during questioning from a member of Congress, who asked whether the many stakeholders involved could be streamlined and whether technology or other changes could make the site "a little bit smoother and easier." The member also asked when congress.gov or house.gov last had a complete refresh, suggesting 2012 as the last substantial update.
A clerk's office representative explained why the site's data architecture is complex, noting the bicameral data needs and ongoing work to improve data transfers to the Library. "We are in the clerk's office, we are working on improving our data transfers to the library, and we have ongoing projects to continually update and modernize everything," the representative said, adding that the office has "good foundations" and needs continued investment rather than immediate, wholesale changes.
The presenter described recent user research and concrete timeline milestones. The team held interviews in November 2025 and March 2026 with about 15 congressional and public users in each round and plans more validation work this year. "We're in the 2nd phase of our 5 phase process... the validation phase... completed by the end of this year," the presenter said, and added the target of a "completely redesigned congress.gov up next year," with a prototype to show at the congress.gov public forum in September.
Users told the project team that search results can be complicated and that individual pages have grown cluttered, which the presenter said has pushed the site toward serving congressional staff more than constituents. "If you don't understand the legislative process, that's also somewhat complicated... it's not geared towards constituents," the presenter said.
The member of Congress said the difficulty is practical: "As a member of Congress, when I'm trying to search to see if I have actually cosigned a bill... it's incredibly complicated." The member welcomed the redesign timeline but warned about the pace of technological change, saying a slow rollout risks being overtaken by innovation.
No formal votes or motions were recorded on the redesign during the hearing. The presenters described their goal of delivering a more intuitive, personalized experience and emphasized further public engagement and testing this year.
