Politics are a touchy and somewhat personal thing. It’s not easy to find objective opinions — whether from traditional media or online publications — no matter what your party affiliation or personal ideology may be. You often run into a wall when you try to find out what actually happens in the chambers of the Capitol building. Sometimes you just want to know what work is being done by your congressional representatives. Who’s on the Judiciary Committee? Which representatives signed the bill I care about? How can I email my Senators? Does my local representative have a Twitter account? All of these things can be answered thanks to the Sunlight Foundation’s new app, Congress.
Available for iPhone and Android devices, Congress is easy to navigate, and cleanly lays out almost anything you could possibly be looking for when it comes to congressional business. Want to learn about the Social Security Equality Act of 2013? Boom, done. Trying to find out what bills were sent off to the Subcommittee on Conservation Energy, and Forestry? You got it. Quite possibly the nicest quality of the app is that for the uninitiated, easily understandable information on all things Washington is at your fingertips.
The app sports a few lists in the sidebar. “Legislators” will give you an alphabetical list of every congressman/women currently active by state. You’re also able to sort this list by House Representatives, and Senators. The “Committees” list breaks down all the congressional committees — and there are a lot of them — again by House, Senate, or joint (meaning there are people from both houses of congress on the committee). There’s also a “Bills” list in which you can take a look at all the new and active legislation working its way through the Capitol building. Going back to the Legislators list for a minute, tapping on a name will take you to that congressperson’s profile which gives you a ton of info. Party affiliation, district coverage maps, and links to contact information including Facebook, Twitter, web, and YouTube profiles is all neatly packed into one screen. You can also mark anyone as a favorite for finding quickly later.
All-in-all, Congress is a pretty great app that takes relatively complex information on the US government and makes it accessible in a way that’s friendly even to small kids. And it doesn’t hurt that it sports some… wait for it… beautiful pixels. The app is available for free on the App Store and Google Play*.
*I only tested the iOS version.