Continuity and Resiliency
We’re safeguarding democracy by ensuring Congress can govern in case of emergency.
Continuity of Congress
What is Congress’s backup plan? For years, we’ve been saying Congress needs systems in place allowing the institution to govern in times of emergency. That’s the continuity of Congress. To ensure continuity, Congress needs institutions in place to incubate, coordinate, and test the government response to crises. Those institutions would promote resiliency in our democracy.
Congressional continuity and resiliency have become partisan issues. That’s a huge problem.
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, we highlighted the importance of congressional continuity, including in testimony before Congress. When the Capitol was closed to the public in 2020, we sprang into action educating the public about the rules on congressional continuity, types of remote proceedings, and where members of Congress stood on the issue.
We also lead bipartisan coalitions calling on Congress to adopt a “digital first” approach using modern technology, to adopt rules to improve continuity, and demonstrated to Congress how fully remote proceedings could work with a mock remote congressional hearing we organized with our civil society allies.
The pandemic represented an excellent opportunity for Congress to implement fully remote deliberations and remote voting. That did not happen. In the 117th Congress, though, Speaker Pelosi eventually implemented proxy voting in the House, a half-measure that met a key demand for Congress to be able to function in an emergency but created an onerous process that centered power in her hands.
The Senate did not follow suit, leading to needless gridlock when senators were in COVID quarantine and bad-faith truancy allowing certain senators to prevent legislation from making it out of committee.
If the pandemic underscored the need for Congress to pass laws allowing remote proceedings and develop the technological capacity to operate remotely, the January 6 insurrection demonstrated that Congress needs a clear succession plan in times of emergency. Such a plan must be coordinated with the presidential succession plan and should be made as public as possible.
Large-scale catastrophes like the pandemic and Jan. 6 insurrection are more likely to make the news, but Congress needs to prepare for the emergencies and life events that affect individual members of Congress, too. We prefer in-person proceedings whenever possible, but creating remote voting options for when members are out during pregnancy, personal, or family health emergencies, or other extenuating circumstances, is a pragmatic, and equitable, solution.
Continuity remains a live issue.
Although there wasn’t a single day when the House had a full 435 members during the 117th Congress, the House eliminated proxy voting for the 118th Congress.
This makes democracy less stable: Congress must always be ready to act to respond to world events and to check the Executive branch.
Congressional Digital Service
Technology is at the heart of congressional operations. However, Congress’s offices and agencies operate under unusual circumstances that add additional needs and constraints to the use of technology services. We were pleased to see the creation of a House Digital Service, we has started to move Congress in this direction.
Just as the Executive branch has responded to this need through the creation of a US Digital Service, so should Congress consider whether the Legislative branch should create a specialized group of technologists, designers, and other experts who can support its internal and public facing operations.
To that effect, we’ve called on the Senate to form a task force to evaluate the potential utility of creating a Congressional Digital Service Office.