House Rep Says Congress Uses Tech Like The DMV, But Should Be Like Uber

Interacting with Congress has more in common with going to the DMV than opening an Uber app. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wa.) thinks that’s a problem.

The chair of the House Republican Conference told the 2015 Personal Democracy Forum in New York City on Friday that the Congress of the future will embrace technology the same way the private sector has over the past decade. An increasingly connected public expects the web to play a part in government, she said, from committee hearings streamed online to the ability to contact their representatives digitally.

“We are a 19th century institution using 20th century technology to solve 21st century problems,” Rodgers said.

So how could tech transform the way we relate to government? I spoke with Rodgers about her vision for digital democracy to find out where Congress could be five or 10 years from today.

Watch the video above.