Media Alert: Open House Project to Deliver Transparency Recommendations to U.S. House of Representatives

May 3, 2007

Contact: Gabriela Schneider 202-742-1520 ext 236

WHAT
Press conference and Hill briefing to announce recommendations by the Open House Project to increase transparency of the U.S. House of Representatives.

A project of the Sunlight Foundation, the Open House Project is a collaborative and bipartisan effort to study how the House of Representatives currently integrates the Internet into its operations, and to make public recommendations to its leadership on how to make the House of Representatives' work more available to citizens on the web.

As part of this presentation, the Open House Project will encourage members of Congress to adopt recommendations and also give feedback during an "open comment" period.

WHEN
10 a.m. - 11 a.m.
Tuesday, May 8, 2007

WHERE
U.S. Capitol, HC-5

WHO
David All, President, The David All Group, LLC
Leslie Harris, Executive Director, the Center for Democracy and Technology
Josh Tauberer, Founder, GovTrack.us
John Wonderlich, Program Director, the Sunlight Foundation

Key recommendations to be announced include:

• Publish the data in congressional legislative databases in structured formats for greater accessibility.
• Recognize Congressional Committees as a public resource by making committee information available online.
• Make non-partisan research by the Congressional Research Service accessible to the public.
• Improve member Web sites to strengthen connection to constituents.
  

  Founded in January, 2006, the mission of the Sunlight Foundation is to strengthen the relationship between lawmakers and their constituents. Sunlight puts information and tools in citizens' hands so they can learn more about what Congress and their elected representatives are doing. Its ultimate goal is full transparency by Congress, its Members and staff will help reduce corruption, ensure greater accountability, and foster public trust in this vital institution of democracy.
  
  Since its founding, the Sunlight Foundation has issued nearly $2 million to groups to digitize existing information about Congress and those that use Internet technology to further Sunlight's goals. Additionally, the Sunlight Foundation has fostered its own projects such as Congresspedia, OpenCongress.org and Congress' Family Business.

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