The bipartisan House committee considering methods of improving congressional operations turned its lens on constituent services Thursday, seeking ways to better help Americans solve problems and navigate government bureaucracy.
Each lawmaker has staffers assigned to help constituents work through these problems, but because the offices all act independently without any central coordination, there is little opportunity to recognize and respond to systemic problems such as slow response times by federal agencies. The Selection Committee on the Modernization of Congress hopes to address that gap.
“This kind of data can inform Congress’s oversight activities and help us get ahead of problems before they do real damage,” said the committee’s chair, Rep. Derek Kilmer. “These kinds of customer feedback loops are pretty standard in pretty much every business, and there’s a reason for that. They help companies improve their customer service, which then improves customer trust in the business.”
Kilmer acknowledged that government and business are not the same, but there are lessons Congress can learn. “The American people expect competent customer service,” he said. "And I think we owe it to our constituents to meet, if not exceed, that standard."
break
The committee heard from three witnesses Thursday, each offering technology recommendations on how Congress can become more customer-friendly and centered around their experience developing higher standards of communication throughout all branches of government.
Anne Meeker, who managed constituent services for Rep. Seth Moulton before becoming director of strategic initiatives at the civic-engagement-oriented Popvox Foundation, suggested Congress build a more connected system between the House of Representatives’ central administrative office and caseworkers. She highlighted three issues that, if solved, would help local, regional and national offices better identify problems and open lines of communication that would lead to reform.
Firstly, she recommended a House-wide analytics system to identify and monitor casework trends. By categorizing and tagging individual case, Congress could identify state or regional problems and develop a better understanding of constituents’ needs.
She also proposed a plan to expand contact information for relevant agency staff to prevent cases from being lost and abandoned, a primary reason some constituent concerns are never resolved. Lastly, Meeker detailed an avenue for internal communication for caseworkers that would include in-person professional development, swapping of case studies and resources, and open access to the institutional knowledge required for good case management.
Meeker also noted the burnout that caseworkers often experience and recommended mental health visits and other support services to work through releveant obstacles. This system would hopefully strengthen the relationship between districts around the country and lead to an increase in bipartisan collaboration, she said.
Nina Olson, executive director of the Center for Taxpayer Rights, detailed her experience implementing measures to more effectively solve taxpayer issues with the IRS. As a national taxpayer advocate within the IRS, she reported taxpayer concerns and problems to Congress, sometimes leading to legislation addressing these issues.
Olson explained that she worked with Congress to address taxpayer concerns would be met bby establishing advocacy offices in every state, accompanied by an open line of communication so constituents could get directly in touch with their case advocate. In turn, Congress was able to use that IRS division to identify problem areas with the agency and develop internal guidance to prevent future problems from occurring. Additionally, Congress required the advocacy department to issue two reports annually, a vehicle to raise concerns about taxpayer problems and make direct recommendations to lawmakers concerning administrative or legislative decisions.
Matt Lira, who was a special assistant to the president for innovation and policy initiatives during the Trump administration as well as a senior advisor to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, closed out the testimony, noting that casework can get lost in congressional shuffle.
“These [constituent] concerns are typically only one aspect of a broader portfolio rather than [Congress’] primary focus and responsibility,” Lira said. He emphasized the importance of modernizing Congress’ capabilities to meet the public’s expectations in the ever-evolving digital world, specifically through ensuring executive sponsorship of legislation, enhancing House-wide capabilities, and expanding the capacity of individual member offices.
Lira recommended that the House designate a senior official to coordinate improvements to House-wide constituent experiences as well as a point person to improve improve constituent services at agencies. Additionally, the House should publish a core set of digital tools for responding to the most common constituent services in order to remove extensive inefficiencies, give entry-level staff the opportunity to shift to higher-value work, and improve engagement between constituents and their representatives.
The hearing followed the recent release of the “State of the Congress 2022” report by the Congressional Management Foundation and the Partnership for Public Service. The report found that senior congressional staffers believe solving constituents’ problems should be the primary goal of members of Congress; however, most say Congress isn’t up to the task.
A golden tray sits on the Resolute Desk as President Donald Trump speaks during an announcement on American nuclear innovation in the Oval Office at the White House on July 24, 2026, in Washington, D.C. Trump is signing multiple executive orders targeting the nuclear energy sector and easing rules for new reactors and nuclear fuel supply chains.
Trump’s hubris rivals the fallen heroes of ancient Greek mythology
In January, the New York Times asked President Donald Trump if there were any limits on his global powers.
“Yeah,” the president responded, “there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.”
That was eight months ago, but fortunately Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster adaptation of “The Odyssey” has made ancient Greek literature newly relevant. Before that window closes, I’d like to talk about hubris.
Today, the term mostly means excessive pride or arrogance. That’s part of what the Greeks meant by it too, but the meaning was a bit richer and more specific. Hubris was an insolent or outrageous act that offended the gods, often because the transgressor was claiming abilities or authorities that solely belonged to supreme beings.
Nolan renamed and slightly modified the concept of xenia for the film, calling it “Zeus’ law.” In the director’s telling, mortals should follow the rules laid out by the gods, specifically the requirement to treat strangers with respect lest they be gods in disguise.
In a sense, hubris is the opposite, or at least the rejection, of xenia. The hubris of the suitors, and at times Odysseus himself, invites punishment by the gods and their mortal instruments.
Which brings me back to Donald Trump. His claim that there are no constraints on his personal power to dictate events on the global stage was one of the greatest expressions of hubris ever uttered by a political leader.
Trump’s claim was obviously false when he made it.
He vowed that he could end the Russia-Ukraine war in 24 hours. He’s proved powerless to make that happen. If he had divine powers to work his will, why would he have balked at implementing his tariffs so often that Wall Street adopted the “TACO trade” term for his deals? “TACO” stands for “Trump always chickens out.”
And why would Trump have made so many embarrassing concessions to China — from rescinding tariffs on Chinese goods to allowing them to buy crucial and incredibly valuable computer chips?
But Trump saw his success at capturing Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro as proof of his ability to launch missiles to the same effect as Zeus’ lightning bolts. Trump believed he was the most powerful man who ever lived.
This is no exaggeration. In March, when the Iran invasion seemed successful, Trump gave a document penned by“Presidential Historian David King” to New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan purporting to prove that Trump was “the most powerful person to have EVER walked this planet.” King was, in fact, a businessman and occasional caddy for legendary golfer Gary Player.
King compared Trump favorably to many of history’s most powerful, and often heinous, figures: Alexander the Great, Attila the Hun, William the Conqueror, Napoleon Bonaparte, Joseph Stalin, Genghis Khan, Mao Tse Tung, Adolf Hitler and Vladimir Lenin. Many of these men thought they were the most powerful person in the world, too. And many were defeated precisely because they believed it.
At least Napoleon and Hitler had a string of truly impressive victories before they learned the folly of hubris. The limits on Trump’s power have been exposed by far less august forces than the combined might of the allies in World War II or the fearsome Russian winter.
Iran is a comparatively middling power. But the regime’s ability to absorb punishment while imposing its will on the Strait of Hormuz has proved to be a greater constraint on Trump’s power than his morality or mind. We should note that, at least rhetorically, his morality has not proved much of a constraint. He has repeatedly promised to destroy Iranian “civilization” if the regime refuses to capitulate.
But they haven’t — and won’t anytime soon — because the regime’s tolerance for pain far outstrips Trump’s. The combined fear of skyrocketing oil prices, outrage of Gulf state potentates, diminishing weapon supplies and domestic unpopularity is doing the work that international law, congressional oversight and the collective opinion of foreign policy experts can’t or won’t do.
If I considered Trump more heroic than reason and facts could allow, I would say his Sisyphean predicament has the whiff of Greek tragedy to it. Trump is vexed by the fact that the Iranians won’t honor deals or ratify his countless premature claims of victory — giving new meaning to his vow that his presidency would make people tired of winning. It’s almost like they’re out-Trumping Trump.
Things might have gone better if he’d heeded that great Greek tragedian Sophocles: “For Zeus utterly abhors the boasts of a proud tongue.”
____
Jonah Goldberg is editor-in-chief of The Dispatch and the host of The Remnant podcast. His Twitter handle is @JonahDispatch.