Congress Can’t Use Twitter

Congressmen John Culberson (R-TX) and Tim Ryan (D-OH) have made a point of reaching out to their constituency through social networking tools like Twitter and Qik. There’s been a lot of positive responses to their efforts — after all, who doesn’t want a clearer idea of what their congressional representatives do on a daily basis?

But they’re in some hot water with the Democratic House majority leadership. The full letters are available through Technosailor, but here’s a summary: Michael Capuano (D-MA) thinks they’re breaking the rules. The Committee on House Administration has certain rules that require ‘official communications’ — which the congressmen’s tweets and other posts are considered to be — to go through House.gov, Congress’ official website. Of course, House.gov is a bit lacking in these types of tools, but that’s apparently not the important part here.

The letter can be read to imply that Capuano thinks the rules should be loosened, but the necessary paperwork is going to be a doozy. The GOP has also submitted a letter, arguing that any web-based tools should be available for representatives’ use.

Culberson and Ryan have found an inexpensive way to communicate with their constituency, providing a better service to those people who elected them. I think it’s crazy that some politicians are arguing that they should lose that ability — especially in light of two facts: first, the other options available to them are far more expensive and, second, House.gov does not have appropriate infrastructure and bringing up to the standards of Qik or Twitter would cost taxpayers a hefty chunk of change.