Press Releases

U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga today was honored as having one of the best websites on Capitol Hill and awarded a “112^th Congress Silver Mouse Award” by the Congressional Management Foundation (CMF), a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that assesses and graded congressional websites since 2001.

Huizenga was one of the only freshman to earn a CMF award, and one of 32 Representatives of the 435-member House to receive a Silver or Gold Mouse.

“It is a great honor to be recognized for our constituent service,” Huizenga said. “We work each day to ensure we’re getting as much information as quickly as possible to the 2^nd District, and we strive to meet our audience where they are, and in increasing numbers  that’s online.”

"Rep. Huizenga is to be commended for educating citizens and achieving the highest degree of transparency and accountability in online communications," said Bradford Fitch, President and CEO of CMF. "In the 21st Century, a website is much more than a broadcasting tool for a political message - it's a virtual office and a window into our democratic institutions. These winners of the Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Bronze Mouse Awards understand the value of using the Internet to enlighten and serve constituents, and are examples for all congressional offices to follow," he said.

CMF conducted its analysis from June to September 2011 and today released its latest report, “112^th Congress Gold Mouse Report: Best Practices in Online Communications on Capitol Hill.” The report identified recent trends related to online communications in Congress, including:

• A significant number of House and Senate Member websites lacked basic educational and transparency features including: links to bills sponsored and cosponsored, voting records, and basic information on how a bill becomes a law.
• House Members taking office in January 2011 had significantly better websites than Senators taking office in January 2011, with 61% of new House Members receiving an A or B grade, compared to 31% of new Senators receiving a similar grade. Nearly half (46%) of new Senators received a grade of D or F, compared to 17% of new House Members.
• While there was general parity overall in quality of websites between Democrats and Republican Member websites, the best websites tended to be Democratic Members.
• Download a copy of the report here.

Of the 618 congressional websites graded, a total of 98 personal House and Senate office, committee and leadership websites earned A’s, and will received a Platinum, Gold, Silver or Bronze Mouse Award.

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