The Hill: A year after Loper Bright, Congress has failed to step up (Op-Ed)
One year after the Supreme Court’s Loper Bright decision ended judicial deference to federal agencies, Congress has yet to step up to its constitutional responsibilities. Instead of investing in the expertise and infrastructure needed to legislate effectively, Congress is defunding the very institutions that support it—at a time when precision lawmaking and AI-era governance demand more, not less.
Six institutional wins to mark six months of the 119th Congress
We mark six months of the 119th Congress with six overlooked institutional wins—from expanded staff benefits to GenAI pilots and infrastructure upgrades. This edition highlights how small, intentional improvements are modernizing legislative operations and building a more resilient Congress.
New On-Demand Training, "GenAI in a Parliamentary Setting: Enhancing Productivity for Elected Officials"
"GenAI in a Parliamentary Setting: Enhancing Productivity for Elected Officials" is an introductory training video designed specifically for Members of Parliament who want to understand how commercially available Large Language Models (LLMs) can enhance their work serving constituents.
Introducing "Claude for Legislatures," A New Training Resource for Legislative Staff
"Claude for Legislatures" is a 101-style, on-demand training video designed specifically for legislative and parliamentary staff who want to explore how Anthropic's commercially available large language model (LLM) Claude can enhance their work.
New Training for Reporters on How to Use AI to Boost Congressional Coverage
POPVOX Foundation has released a training video that brings Congressional reporters up to speed on how Capitol Hill uses AI and how journalists can leverage these same tools to enhance their reporting.
Beta Takeaways: Key Lessons on StaffLinkBot.org
First-week observations and next steps for StaffLink, our publicly available, AI-powered chatbot designed with newly hired Hill staff and interns in mind.
Learning Together: A Morning Focused On Tech Innovations Solving Policy Challenges
On April 28, POPVOX Foundation partnered with the Bertelsmann Foundation to host “Learning Together: Technology Solutions for Policy Challenges,” a first-of-its-kind democratic technology showcase that brought together Congressional staffers, international peers, civil society, technology fellows, civic tech builders, and members of the public for networking and inspiration.
Introducing StaffLink: An AI Assistant for Junior Congressional Staff
StaffLink, a new, AI-powered chatbot designed especially for junior Congressional staffers provides immediate guidance on Congressional operations, drawing on publicly available information about Congressional operations.
Committee on House Administration Member Day
Ahead of the Committee on House Administration's upcoming Member Day, POPVOX Foundation offers the following recommendations encouraging Member engagement with CHA to build on previous successes in creating a strong, responsive Legislative branch.
New Rules Call for Ongoing AI Efforts in the House; Here’s What Lawmakers Should Do Next
The House of Representatives’ new rules package for 2025 emphasizes integrating artificial intelligence (AI) to streamline operations and enhance legislative functions. To fully realize AI's potential, lawmakers should prioritize revising restrictive IT policies, forming dedicated AI working groups, investing in staff training, and leveraging modernization funds for pilot programs.
What’s happening with AI in constituent engagement?
Outdated communication systems and limited office adoption have minimized GenAI's impact on constituent engagement, but there remains a need to rethink and modernize how constituents and lawmakers interact.
Comparing AI Adoption in the US Congress to Legislatures Worldwide
Despite initial momentum, the US Congress risks lagging international counterparts in the adoption of automated technologies. To improve its own operations and keep pace with international counterparts, Congress should work collaboratively to develop a cohesive AI strategy, provide dedicated resources for staff and Member training, remove barriers to the use of commercial and open source tools, and engage more actively in global knowledge-sharing.
Updated: Where the House and Senate Are on Internal AI
While debates continue across Capitol Hill on approaches to regulation of artificial intelligence, institutional offices within the House of Representatives are taking steps to prepare for the impending paradigm shift.
AI Tools for Casework: A Guide for Congressional Staff
AI Tools for Casework: A Guide for Congressional Staff, shares a few starting points for caseworkers to use tools like ChatGPT in casework, including sample prompts.
Congressional Hackathon 5.0 Recap
A recap of Congressional Hackathon 5.0, co-hosted by the Speaker of the House, Minority Leader of the House, and the CAO.
Tall Expectations (and a Suggestion) for the House’s New Bipartisan AI Task Force
The US House of Representatives announced the creation of a bipartisan AI Task Force to help lawmakers better understand this emerging technology. The task force launch is a timely boost to Congress’ exploration of the opportunities and challenges posed by these new technologies.
POPVOX Foundation and FAI encourage Congressional staff to “fall in love” with GenAI
POPVOX Foundation and the Foundation for American Innovation have released “Fall in Love with AI,” a resource designed to help Congressional staffers integrate artificial intelligence into their workflows.
POPVOX Foundation Report Reveals How AI Can Transform Congressional Operations
Representative Bodies in the AI Era provides an overview of how artificial intelligence (AI) technologies have been gradually adopted in the legislative workflows of parliaments globally over the past decades.
2023: A Monumental Year for POPVOX Foundation
As we take stock of an eventful year, we see significant progress in Congressional capacity — much of it under the radar and out of the headlines. We at POPVOX Foundation have been hard at work on our mission to make government work better for everyone, and are proud of what we have accomplished in 2023.
The Senate Issues Guidelines for Responsible Internal AI Usage
The US Senate’s guidance, authorizing the use of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Microsoft’s Bing Chat AI, and Google’s Bard for research and evaluation purposes, is a notable step in the institution’s experimentation of how AI-enabled tools can augment staff capacity, boosting productivity and efficiency.