To make themselves more relevant, committees have begun to experiment with audio and video coverage of hearings on the Web. If Members can follow hearings from their offices, there is concern that it will become an incentive not to attend hearings. It's only a matter of time before Members begin e-mailing questions to colleagues at hearings to ask on their behalf, and then to demand remote voting privileges on the House Floor. The point of highlighting these real and potential consequences is not to suggest that Congress should somehow be immune from the changes confronting society as a whole. Rather, it is to recognize the unique challenges Congress faces in adapting emerging technologies to the legislative process.
Caution is more valued than efficiency.
The easy decisions about how to apply technology to Congress have already been made. Any new application of information technology is likely to run up against this technology paradox. In considering how to proceed, it is critical that Congress finds the right balance between the desire to enhance democracy and participation and the need to maintain the deliberative traditions and representative nature of the institution.