House Leaders pledge to open data to public

House Leaders from both parties agreed on the need for the lower chamber to release more data for public use by third-party developers in the wake of the first-ever Congressional Facebook Hackathon.

"We are dedicated to making the activities of this Congress transparent, accessible and useful for people around the country," said House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) "In order to accomplish that, it is clear that we must use technology to build stronger connections between constituents and their elected officials by incorporating social media into daily Congressional operations. The December event featured leaders from both parties, Congressional staffers, developers and open government advocates discussing how to best leverage the innovation of the technology sector to help improve public engagement with the government.