A Community Builds an App with Congress

READ THE REPORT

The office of Congressman Seth Moulton (MA06) innovated with a local group of civic technologists known as Code for Boston who were also part of the national Code for America network. Working together, Moulton’s office and Code for Boston built an app to calculate a Social Security benefit regulated by a place-determined amendment known as the Windfall Elimination Provision. Since this team created the app, Congress has accelerated their digital development with pandemic emergency rules changes in 2020 and rolling recommendations issued by the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress. For example, remote video participation in hearings and electronic document submission—formerly in-person and hard copy—have become routine workflow activities. The app featured in this case example also represents a present gap in Congress’ institutional capacity to safeguard and share public interest technology

Associated Projects

Contributing Authors

Lorelei Kelly

Lorelei Kelly

Fellow