Hoyer Remarks at the Sixth Annual Congressional Hackathon

WASHINGTON, DC - Today, Congressman Steny H. Hoyer (MD-05) delivered remarks at the 6th annual Congressional Hackathon in the U.S. Capitol. Below is a transcript of his remarks:

Congressman Steny Hoyer (MD-05) addresses the attendees of the
Congressional Hackathon in the US Capitol Visitor Center Auditorium.

"Welcome. And apologies. I want you to know, however, that it was the President of the United States that held me up. It was not just for 'somebody' that I wasn't here with you, and I am excited about being here. I want to thank you all for being here and thank you for what you do.

"I understand, Speaker Johnson, was very kind in terms of my role in starting this and working with Derek Kilmer and others to continue this. And Speaker Johnson has been very gracious to make sure that we continue this very, very important effort, which has benefited the Congress of the United States and the people of the United States as well.

"I know the Speaker has left, I want to thank him for that. Steve Dwyer-I don't know how many of you know Steve Dwyer well-he says I was his boss. I had no idea what he was doing. Everybody in the office was totally reliant on Steve Dwyer every day for making sure their technology worked properly and Steve Dwyer's one of the greatest, most able, positive people that I know and if you haven't gotten to know him, you would be advantaged by doing so in future.

"So Steve, thank you. You, you're the real author of the Hackathon, working with others, but Steve Dwyer, we hire extraordinarily good staff, and we take credit for what they do. Sometimes we don't recognize, however, the people that do that but Steve is certainly in that position.

"Catherine Szpindor, I want to thank you for letting Steve continue to focus on this, for your working to implement so much of the technology that has been recommended and to the benefit not only of the Congress of the United States but of the people of the United States. So, thank you very much for your work.

"Earnestine Dawson, thank you as well for participating, thank you… I don't know whether Chris is still here. Oh, there's Chris. Thank you very much for your efforts.

"I'm happy-it says here-but I really am happy to be here. This is our sixth in the U.S Capitol, Hackathon. I'm grateful for Speaker Johnson, as I said, for carrying on this worthwhile effort. As well as the leader of my party, an extraordinary individual in his own right, Hakeem Jeffries, who has been a real supporter of this effort. The Hackathon has been a bipartisan initiative ever since I first organized it with Eric Cantor. Eric Cantor became the Majority Leader, he and I sort of went back-and-forth being the Majority Leaders. Things went on and then that, of course, was the end of majority. Sometimes he was, sometimes I was.

"The Hackathon's beginning wasn't about politics. It's about improving this institution and its ability to serve the American people. You know, the innovation that comes out of the Hackathon each year will help the House govern more effectively and our phrase is, our our phrase was, 'For the People.' You'll see some of these cutting-edge technologies today, including an online legislative drafting platform on our House server, a new online staff directory … and one of my personal favorites as an appropriator, I served on the Appropriations Committee for a very long period of time, a new system that handled community project funding, you may know those by the effects of the term 'earmarks.' But they are priorities that a member assesses their district needs and includes that in the appropriation bill. We know many of these tools are the hard at work of the House Digital Service, a group which is proud to help establish, always proud to establish.

"To my dear friend, oh, I have already talked about, Steve Dwyer, a pioneer of many of these technologies that will continuously help organize these Hackathons year after year. I'm also want to commend, as I had done to the Chief Administrative Officer, who is the professional who runs the business, who runs the organization and the implementation policy here on the House. I'm glad that we finally institutionalized these events and this event. We did so on the recommendation of House Modernization, and I want to recognize the former Chair of the Modernization Committee…

"My job was to introduce him. You've already heard from him, so I won't introduce him again, which I know you're very thankful of. But I do want to say, that Congressman Kilmer, there is one of those far-sighted, technically competent, and knowledgeable young people that are in the Congress of the United States. That's the good news. The bad news, as you probably heard, he's leaving the Congress of the United States. And the Congress of the United States will be lesser for his absence. He is a wonderful Member of Congress, responsible for many of his steps forward that we've taken over the years.

"Bottom line, I wanted to thank him, but I also wanted to thank you for taking your time, your valuable time, to be here, to come together with others, to see what we're doing and to suggest what we ought to be doing. What lies ahead tomorrow and maybe a year from now, maybe five years from now and maybe ten years from now. You are making a difference in real time with real suggestions that will make a real difference.

"On behalf of the Congress of the United States, Republicans and Democrats alike, I thank each and every one of you for what you're doing here today and for what you do every day to make sure America is the most technologically proficient country in the world. And that the Congress of the United States reflects that technological ability to the benefit of the American people. Thank you all very, very much."

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