Speaker John Boehner today launched a redesigned Speaker.gov website featuring a more robust Speaker’s Blog, and emphasizing digital content like photos, videos, and live streams. “This innovative new site makes it easier than ever for the American people to find and share information on what the House is doing to remove government barriers to job growth,” said Speaker Boehner. “We’re going to keep adding new tools and features to keep Americans informed and engaged with the People’s House.”

The new Speaker.gov is built on Drupal, an open source platform now used by several Congressional and House committee websites. Here are some of the features of the new Speaker.gov:

• It’s All on the Blog: As Speaker Boehner says in the video above, the “Speaker’s Blog” is now the center of the site. Everything from press releases and speeches to photos and videos is neatly categorized, tagged (with an RSS feed for each), and indexed for quick searching. The goal is to make reading, engaging with, and finding recent (or past) updates as easy as possible.
• Go Mobile: Roughly 20 percent of our visitors (and growing) are on mobile phones like iPhones and Blackberries. The new Speaker.gov has a sleek and intuitive layout for mobile phones that makes contacting Speaker Boehner or finding the latest content easier than ever.
• Watch Live: Speaker Boehner’s press conferences, speeches, and other events can be watched –and commented on – in real time on Speaker.gov/Live. And because we’re using UStream, you can follow along on your mobile phone and tablet as well.
• Comment, Share, & Connect: No need to create a special account to engage on our site – with DISQUS, visitors can log in with existing social media accounts to leave a comment. Every blog post is easy to share on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and elsewhere, and links directly to the author’s Twitter account. So if I wrote a post you like or don’t like, you can let me know.
• Photos, Videos, & More: The new Photos & Video section highlights all of the Speaker’s latest YouTube videos and Flickr photos. And Legislative Initiatives links you to ongoing efforts by the House to remove government barriers to job growth, cut spending, and more.

Under Speaker Boehner, the House has consistently used new technology to make the legislative process more open and accessible. Click here to see some of the successes of the 112th Congress (so far) – including the new docs.House.gov, HouseLive.gov, and more – and stay tuned as the House continues to innovate and adopt new digital tools to better connect lawmakers with the American people.