Chairman Vern Buchanan (R-FL) and Ranking Member Dina Titus (D-NV) hold HDP's original authorizing legislation from 2005. | | |
The House Democracy Partnership (HDP) quarterly newsletter is a new product highlighting both recent Commission activities as well as important news from countries with which we are working. HDP recently celebrated 20 years of existence and restructured its core appropriations to ensure our programs are responsive to our Members of Congress and delivering concrete outcomes for U.S. national and economic security. Parliaments abroad are eager to engage with the U.S. Congress and our work is busier than ever! |
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From June 11-20, 2026, Chairman Buchanan led a bipartisan congressional delegation to Morocco, Ghana, and Portugal, to strengthen relationships with partner legislatures and discuss issues affecting regional security, economic prosperity, and democratic governance. Through meetings with parliamentarians, executive officials, and U.S. embassy teams, the delegation reaffirmed Congress's commitment to the enduring value of strong democratic institutions around the world.
Highlights of the engagements included a discussion on regional security cooperation after a successful African Lion joint multinational military drill hosted across Morocco last month, Chairman Buchanan signing a Joint Sense of Cooperation between the House Democracy Partnership and the Ghanaian Parliament in Accra, Ghana, and addressing economic challenges with Portugal that could strengthen transatlantic trade operations with both parliamentary and executive leadership.
A follow-up parliamentary engagement on technological modernization deliverables will take place in Accra in August.
| | | A New Parliament in Bolivia | |
An HDP delegation visited La Paz, Bolivia, in April at the recommendation of the U.S. Embassy in Bolivia to assess the priorities, challenges, and opportunities facing Bolivia’s Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of the Plurinational Legislative Assembly, which has new leadership and nearly all new members.
HDP identified opportunities for collaboration between the U.S. Congress and Bolivia’s legislature on artificial intelligence and parliamentary modernization, transparency initiatives, regional inter-parliamentary engagement, and efforts to update and streamline legislative rules and procedures.
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HDP organized a fact-finding mission from April 7–12 to Taipei, Taiwan, during which congressional staff met with Members and senior staff of the Legislative Yuan, as well as civil society professionals and Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Through these exchanges, the delegation identified opportunities for collaboration between the U.S. Congress and Taiwan’s Parliament on cybersecurity improvements, AI and parliamentary modernization, effective constituent engagement, and regional cooperation on parliamentary budgeting.
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Uruguay Modernization
In May 2026, HDP led a congressional delegation of senior staff for a program focused on parliamentary modernization, fostering peer-to-peer legislative exchange, and identifying opportunities for collaboration between the U.S. House of Representatives and Uruguay’s Parliament.
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Sri Lanka Parliamentary Budgeting
HDP and Congressional Budget Office staff visited Sri Lanka in June to support Parliament’s effort to establish a Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) under its 2023 PBO Act and discuss how enhanced budget institutions can bolster public accountability.
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ParlAmericas Roundtable
On March 18, HDP welcomed a group of 30 Members of Parliament from more than 20 countries across Latin America and the Caribbean for a roundtable dialogue as part of their visit with ParlAmericas.
During the discussion, HDP Ranking Member Dina Titus and Congresswoman Delia Ramirez spoke with the group about regional economic and security issues. Given the strong demographic, economic, and cultural links between many U.S. districts and communities in Latin America and the Caribbean, each Member also spoke to the necessity of ongoing peer‑to‑peer dialogue in order to actualize meaningful benefits for constituents and deepen regional cooperation.
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The Buchanan Fellowship
HDP Chairman Vern Buchanan announced his retirement at the conclusion of the 119th Congress. To recognize his decade on the House Democracy Partnership and his tenure as HDP Chairman, the Buchanan Fellowship was created as a new exchange program between staff of the U.S. Congress and the UK House of Commons focused on institutional modernization, innovation, and the responsible internal adoption of artificial intelligence in legislative settings.
The inaugural exchange will take place in the Fall 2026 with six U.S. congressional staff and nine UK parliamentary staff.
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In the next quarter, HDP will be hosting regional gatherings in Ghana and Albania to introduce a new tool developed by Popvox Foundation called ParlLink, an AI-powered platform standardizing legislative data. Our hands-on trainings will include senior parliamentary technologists from Albania, Botswana, Ghana, Kosovo, Moldova, North Macedonia, Senegal, Serbia, and South Africa.
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HDP Executive Director Derek Luyten will present on modernization efforts in the U.S. House of Representatives at the Workshop of Parliamentary Scholars and Parliamentarians in Britain at the end of July.
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In late August, HDP will collaborate with the George C. Marshall Center in Garmisch-Partenkirchen on a regional dialogue covering parliamentary oversight of the military with participants from Armenia, Moldova, Kosovo, North Macedonia, and Albania followed by a fact-finding mission to Zagreb, Croatia for partnership opportunities.
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In September, HDP will be re-engaging a large group from Caribbean parliaments in Miami, Florida, for a follow-on event implementing ParlLink, where the idea originated at an HDP forum in 2024. Attendees will see firsthand how this technology has been deployed in Trinidad and Tobago and have the opportunity to train with the application live.
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Also in September, HDP will send its inaugural cohort of U.S. congressional staff to the UK parliament for the Buchanan Fellowship. We will welcome UK staff to the U.S. House of Representatives in early October to complete the first exchange.
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Working alongside the Africa Center for Security Studies, HDP will assist the Senegalese parliament in instituting oversight mechanisms of their security sector in a three-day seminar focused specifically on budget oversight with MPs from their Defense Committee.
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