Now, a ceremony to honor members of congress and their staffs for their actions off the floor of congress and services for constituents. Hosted by the Congressional Management Foundation, this is just over one hour. Brad hello and welcome everyone to the sixth annual democracy awards. My name is brad fitch, i am so happy to welcome you here on such a beautiful morning. It is so exciting to be here for another one of our awards ceremonies to recognize the best in congress. I am grateful for the founder of the democracy awards, the Bridge Alliance. They are a Diverse Coalition of organizations committed to revitalizing Democratic Practice in america. It is kind of like a trade association for democracy reform. You will hear more about it when debbie lynn comes to the stage. The vision for the democracy awards are simple and based on the Congressional Management Foundations 47 year history of working with u. S. Congress. This award actually goes to the office and the members. Because we recognize that the members have to be great leaders and need great teams to support them in their mission. The second reason we wanted to create the democracy awards is to offer examples of best practices for members of congress. Offering them roadmaps for how they can improve their operations and their constituent services. The third reason we want to create the awards is we hope it will increase public understanding of congress. We know that congress is not held in high esteem. The congress that you see and that we see is made up of dedicated Public Servants trying to do the best they can for their constituents. We hope that if we can shine a light on these Public Servants, even for a moment, maybe we can chip away a little bit at the cynicism in america. Those are the goals, let me explain how the winners were selected. To select the finalists, we asked Congressional Offices to self nominate online. A review committee of cmf staff vetted materials and interviewed Congressional Offices. For selecting the winners we turned to real experts. Because of our network, we know the best and brightest former senior staff who made up the Selection Committee. The committee was broken into subcommittees by category and they reached a consensus. Most of you will recognize the names on this Selection Committee as individuals committed to excellence and the institution of congress. I would like the members of the Selection Committee to stand and be recognized. [applause] any event of this kind is the work of dedicated staff, volunteers, and we could not have the awards without you, our sponsors and friends. You are noted in the program, but i would like to have the representatives to stand right now and be recognized. [applause] now onto the main event. The first category of winners we would like to commend are the winners in the constituent service category. The investment a Congressional Office makes towards constituent Services Operations is remarkable. Those operations have been tested more than any other time in congressional history. There is not a lot of political benefit from investing in answering the mail and doing casework. But both of those endeavors only reached a small percentage of the electorate. We all know the rewards in that investment is found in the souls who you help, the lives you lighten, and the changes you make. To present the democracy awards, please welcome to the stage dave kerry with cms energy. [applause] thank you, brad. I am happy to announce the winners of the award. [no audio] just as our elected officials are entrusted with meeting the needs of the constituents, we are entrusted with the wellbeing of our customers. Both require a profound commitment to service and a deep sense of responsibility. From announcing our industry zero goal, our electric business, to being coal free by 2025, to partnering with communities to build solar power. We know what it means to put our customers and the overall prosperity for the state of michigan over every choice we make. Two remarkable individuals have exemplified putting their constituents at the heart of everything they do. Our first winner is representative Lauren Underwood. She began as a nurse and her passion for helping others has only grown stronger. While in congress she has had remarkable impacts. In under four years her office has closed over 5000 constituent cases and recovered close to 25 million on behalf of her constituents. Her dedication to the people of illinois 14th district is a testament of selflessness that all should celebrate. Our second winner is congressman dusty johnson. His tireless efforts to listen to his constituents, understand the concerns and act on their behalf has set a standard for Public Service. During covid his office created drive through town halls where constituents would drive through and talk to him in a parking lot for as long as they needed. His office prides themselves on customer service. Most constituents said they had a positive experience with his office. At the core of every elected official, republican or democrat. This years winners have gone above and beyond the call to serve, and the people of south dakota and illinois should be incredibly proud. I am honored to present the winners, representative Lauren Underwood and congressman dusty johnson. [applause] good morning. Representative underwood could not be here, i am her Communications Director. She conveys her sincere gratitude and passes along these sentiments. We have an ethos in our office of service to community first. On the first page of our team handbook, the first thing that a new team member sees, is the values that the congresswoman expects us to uphold. Accessibility, accountability, transparency, and kindness. All of us takes this seriously, but no one exemplifies them day in and day out more than our caseworkers and constituent service team. They make a tangible inference in the lives of our families, friends and neighbors back home. They do not do it for the awards, they do it because they care about our community and congresswoman underwood believes that it was what we were sent to do. On behalf of them, and all of team underwood, thank you to the Congressional Management Foundation for this award, and congratulations to all of the award winners. It is an honor to be in the room with the very best in congress. Thank you. [applause] thank you again for this award, sincere apologies for dusty not being able to make it. He places an emphasis on serving constituents and serving them with compassion and empathy. A lot of times they come to our office and it is the last resort. Sometimes they are in tears, or angry, sometimes it is very emotional and it is an emotionally exhaustive job. But our whole Team District staff, we do casework from the top down. This week i trained our staff assistant how to handle intake on casework. This is something our office takes a huge importance and major emphasis on. We train it is an ongoing situation, not just the process of casework but the emotions of casework. We do casework and to send out casework reviews to get metrics of how our office is doing. From those metrics we were able to i will share two different quotes. Thank you for a speedy response, it feels good to have a representative who genuinely cares for his constituents and follows up to make sure their issue is resolved. You are invaluable. Your office has always exceeded expectations and your staff are always kind and considerate. Dusty keeps these quotes at his desk. They are printed out and he keeps them to see every day. When the hustle and bustle in d. C. Is going on, he knows that he is making a difference, our team is making a difference in south dakota. I know it can be very emotionally exhausting, and with every different role we place, it is a very thankless job. However it is important to know that the things we do matter. We get the opportunity to change peoples lives and help people. Thank you again for this honor and we appreciate it. [applause] the next category of winners is the category of constituent accountability and accessibility. There must be a level of accountability between the citizens and their government and the government must be accessible to their constituents in every available form. Taken to the extreme, the practices of accountability can be manipulated by politicians or outside groups seeking to influence the political process. This is why when designing the criteria for this award, we took great care to emphasize accountability and accessibility to create trust in our democracy. Accessibility to bring understanding of the policy implications for citizens. Not accountability as a slogan but practices that demonstrate the member and their staff appreciate their and they are ultimately accountable to their constituents. The winners possess these qualities and deserve recognition and praise. To present the winners of this award, please welcome to the stage with National Journal. [applause] good morning everyone, thank you for being here. I am excited to join you on behalf of National Journal membership to recognize two Public Servants dedicated to constituent accountability and accessibility. I am excited about this category because we know that accessibility and accountability are cornerstones when it comes to service. Many of you know National Journal for journalism, but a lot of the staff is in the service capacity. Services are at the core of what we do and the winners in this category exemplify that in their work representing their constituents. A little bit about the awardees, representative john curtis of utah, he always aims to reply within 15 business days. At the end of each week the office compiles a weekly report, sent to the entire staff which included response times, keeping everyone accountable. Representative curtis calls constituents each week and engages with them. Since 2017 his office has organized over 300 events and shares Success Stories on social media. Representative Mark Desaulnier shares through town halls. To increase transparency and accountability. Not just setting the metrics but actually sharing them out. He has hosted over 180 town halls, taking live questions and ensuring every constituent gets a response. He holds virtual and mobile District Office hours and encourages diverse viewpoints. Since 2015 his office has responded to nearly 790,000 inquiries and over 9000 constituents. We are inspired by this commitment to service and that the offices have demonstrated. We share their drive to make every constituent feel heard. I am proud to present the winners of the democracy award for constituent accountability and accessibility, representative Mark Desaulnier and john curtis, please join me on stage. [applause] it is a delight to be with you this morning. This award, more than anything else that we receive in congress, is a reflection of my team. And the staff that i have. I am here today to give them the biggest shout out i can possibly do. They are an Amazing Group of men and women. They are not content with anything other than the very best in reaching out to our constituents. When i first won, they would arrange five town Hall Meetings when we would come home on a thursday. At some point i said, i will never do another one of these again. So we sat down and revamped the town hall format as a team. When you go to a curtis town hall, every Single Person that comes gets an opportunity to speak with me in person to discuss their issues. It is an amazing format. They walk away happy because they were heard. A shout out to my team, the best in the country. I do not know there is a staff for this, that i am sure we have close to the lowest turnover of all of the staffs in washington. They are an Amazing Group of people. This is an honor, i appreciate being here with you, thank you very much. [applause] thank you very much, this is a delight and honor. The board, thank you. It is really wonderful to look around and see the other people who have been recognized here as a reflection. It is a very positive reflection. John and i discovered we have similar backgrounds. I was a republican in the bay area when i started in politics. I wont mention john. [laughter] he was the other party at utah. So we had a lot to talk about. I could have you talked to my therapist maybe. Like john, i want to recognize my wonderful staff. The one taking the picture of me. See . We are already using this in real time. Our Communications Director wrote the application. I came to politics through the Restaurant Business in San Francisco. I will give you two things that stayed with me in politics. I had an apparently famous San Francisco restauranteur who passed away and he said the secret to management was hiring people who did not need to be managed. That is what i have had the good grace to have in my office. That is why we have done as well as we done. He also said to a reporter once, how much do you spend on average . You have been so successful. He says i dont spend anything. I keep that as all politics is local, just do your job well. Hopefully it will reflect on the institution and you. I dont know why im getting this award to a certain degree. When i get depressed, i told my staff i need a town hall within 48 hours at home. So thank you so much. [applause] our next category is innovation and modernization. Someone is probably joking right now that innovation in congress is an oxymoron, and yet innovation is vital to any business that cannot add resources to support its mission. As many of you know the fulltime staff in a house office is set at 18 fulltime people and that number was set by law in 1974. For any office, innovation is necessary to create a more efficient and Effective Services system. This is what cmf saw in the winters for innovation and modernization. I want to take a sidetrack and add some remarks about congressman kilmer and congressman timmons. I have been working in congress for 37 years now on and off. I have to tell you that personally the most rewarding experience i had in my three decades of working with congress has been on the modernization effort and working with these two. With a have done to infuse in the u. S. Congress a concept of renewal and innovation is unprecedented in the history of an institution that is two centuries old. When we were looking for the winners for innovation and modernization, we did not have to look very far to identify two people who were the epitome of what we are looking for in democracy award winners. To present the award for innovation and modernization, please welcome to the stage marcella with verizon communications. [applause] good morning. Wow, look at this place. First of all, before i say anything, how grateful i am to cmf and to all of you to be here today. Look at the sweater and who we are surrounded by. I am so grateful for it. Verizon is proud to support cmf. I am honored to present the innovation and modernization award to congressman kilmer and timmons. As cochairs of the House Select Committee on modernization they worked collaboratively to create and implement initiatives that successfully brought greater transparency, efficiency and structural improvements to the essential work of congress. I cant wait to hear them talk about all theyve done because i know im aware of some of it and the changes it has made and the transparency and how much easier it is to get information. I am looking forward to hearing from you. They exemplify what it means to be leaders. This vast spirit of innovation that drives verizon as we build the networks that bring Transformative Solutions to our country, and im not just referring to our physical infrastructure and wires, im also talking about the networks of relationships with the communities we serve. Its these connections that help us understand the challenges we must solve and the innovations and partnerships we must create. Its with our networks we are working to close the Digital Divide and bring connectivity to the people that need it most. We are building 5g labs and Stem Education in schools and have engineered the most resilient infrastructure to meet the demands of our world. With that, i am honored to present the award to congressman kilmer and congressman timmons. [applause] [laughter] good morning. Thank you so much for doing this. You have been such an integral part of our efforts to modernize congress over the last four years. I want to thank all the sponsors for this. My team is so important. Heather on my chief of staff, and derek is still leading the fight to implement all of our recommendations. It has been such an honor to serve on the select committee for the modernization of congress. I came into congress 4. 5 years ago. My Campaign Slogan was washington is broken. To be tasked with trying to heal the institution, to try to modernize the institution, was a dream come true. When i started out i did not know what to expect. Then the vice chair and chair kilmer, they set the tone for the committee. Uniquely six republicans, six democrats. We had to Work Together. We had to build trust and relationships with our colleagues across the aisle. We got so much done. We passed 202 recommendations. 60 ish have been implement it. Clearly we have a lot of work left to do. I do have an eno